Montreux (Switzerland) (AFP)
"Either you are inside or you are outside".
Fifa President Gianni Infantino came to the aid of European football on Tuesday, upset by the private Super League founded by twelve dissident clubs, which he threatened with exclusion, without however putting forward concrete measures.
Infantino at the bedside of UEFA and its president Aleksander Ceferin, with whom the differences were however numerous ... The deep crisis which hit Europe of the round ball gave birth Tuesday morning of a striking image, symbol of the trauma caused by the split of twelve major clubs, including Real Madrid, Liverpool and Juventus Turin, with a view to creating their own competition, a lucrative event almost closed to other clubs on the continent.
Meeting in congress in Montreux (Switzerland), the representatives of the 55 member associations of the European football body heard Infantino firmly reaffirm Fifa's opposition to this project, "closed club", "dissident of existing institutions" and competitor. direct from the Champions League, UEFA's flagship event since 1955.
"Either you are in or you are out. You cannot be half in and half out," he added, waving again, in unison with UEFA, the threat of the exclusion of dissident clubs and their players from all national and international competitions ... without however citing concrete measures or time limits.
"The promotions and relegations are a model that has been crowned with success," continued Infantino, opposing this almost closed league system, where the founding clubs would have their ticket guaranteed each season, instead of having to qualify. via their national championships.
Infantino's speech at the UEFA congress was particularly awaited by European football, which will need Fifa to implement the reprisals he intends to inflict on secessionist clubs, such as the one, legally discussed, to ban their players in international competitions with their selections, such as the Euro or the World Cup.
- Inextricable -
Hostilities have been open since Monday between UEFA, its president Aleksander Ceferin, and the twelve rebel clubs, described by the Slovenian as "snakes" guided "by greed".
The leader nevertheless opened the door to a reconciliation by assuring the owners of the clubs concerned that there was "still time to change their mind".
But for now, the situation seems inextricable.
Will the mutinous clubs still be in the running in their respective competitions between now and the semi-finals of the Champions League, whose first legs are scheduled for next week and concern three of the slingers (Real, Chelsea, Manchester City)?
The Danish Jesper Moller, member of the UEFA Executive Committee, said he expected the exclusion of mutinous clubs on Friday at a meeting of this decision-making body.
But the all-powerful boss of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, chosen to be the new president of the structure "European Super League", assured not to believe it.
"I do not want to detail the legal reasons, but that will not happen, it is impossible", judged the septuagenarian in the Spanish television program El Chiringuito.
According to Antoine Duval, specialist in European sports law at the Asser Institute in The Hague, such an exclusion "would expose UEFA to actions for damages by the channels holding the TV rights".
- Financial appetite -
The founders of the Super League - six English clubs, three Spanish and three Italians - have, for their part, already warned UEFA and Fifa, in a letter consulted by AFP, that they had launched preventive legal proceedings to guarantee the birth of their project.
And the European Commission has declared that it is not competent to block the birth of the Super League, according to its vice-president Margaritis Schinas.
For UEFA, such a competition is inconceivable: on the contrary, on Monday it adopted a reform of its C1 by 2024, which is also supposed to satisfy the financial appetite of the biggest clubs by offering more matches and a new format. of "mini-championship" during the group stage.
But that doesn't seem to bother the slingers.
By launching their competition "as soon as possible", without further clarification, the rebels claim to establish an almost closed league comparable to the North American basketball (NBA) or American football (NFL) championships.
If they have not managed to seduce the French and German clubs for the moment, the promoters do not despair and count on the presence of two French clubs "at least" each season, according to a source close to the dissident clubs.
The Super League foresees a regular season between 20 clubs, then play-offs, with fifteen members of right (the 12 "founding clubs" and three others to be determined) and five other teams chosen "on their performance of the previous season".
The new competition, according to its promoters, is doomed to "generate additional resources for the whole football pyramid".
The 15 founding clubs will receive "a one-off payment of around 3.5 billion euros".
By way of comparison, UEFA had received 3.2 billion euros in revenue for its club competitions in 2018-2019, before the pandemic, redistributed to more than 80 clubs participating in C1 and C3.
© 2021 AFP