We must recognize a quality to the defenders of the Super League: stubbornness.
While the vast majority of the world of football has massively expressed its rejection of this project of European competition reserved for the elite, the company promoting this rich idea never admits defeat.
It announced on Wednesday that it had appointed a CEO in the person of the German Bernd Reichart, whose mission will be to open a "dialogue" on the future of club football.
Former boss of the RTL Group media group in Germany, Bernd Reichart takes control of the A22 Sports Management structure, the company "created to sponsor and help create the Super League in Europe".
"European football needs an open and honest dialogue around its future," said Bernd Reichart in an interview with AFP, 18 months after the failure of a first version of this rival project of competitions. UEFA.
"Over the next few months, with our partners, we are going to launch a structured, well-organized and professional dialogue", he explains, noting a "broken system" and a "European football which does not does not reach its full potential.
Bernd Reichart, 48, is a specialist in media and sports rights, notably working for the rights agency Sportfive, the Spanish media group Atresmedia and the German group RTL, of which he was CEO from 2019 to 2021.
This appointment makes him the new incarnation of the Super League.
This private competition project launched by twelve major European clubs (supposed to be members by right) was unveiled with fanfare in April 2021. But faced with the fury of many supporters and the threat of political measures, the affair had fallen apart in 48 hours.
Nine of the twelve rebellious clubs, notably the powerful English clubs, have made amends, but Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin continue to keep the flame burning.
The new format of the C1 "is not going in the right direction"
In recent weeks, Madrid president Florentino Pérez and his Barcelona counterparts Joan Laporta and Turin's Andrea Agnelli have all reaffirmed their commitment to the project, which is supposed to allow clubs to be "masters of their destiny" according to Laporta.
To counter the Super League, UEFA announced a major reform of the Champions League for 2024, with 36 teams instead of 32, and an eight-day mini-championship instead of the traditional group stage.
TV rights must bring in the record sum of fifteen billion euros over three years (2024-2027).
"This project is not going in the right direction", slice Bernd Reichart.
"I am quite convinced that the fans will not like the 2024-2027 format, which has clear weaknesses", he says, pointing in particular to the sharp increase in the number of matches and the fact that the knockout phase at From the round of 16, the most "interesting and exciting" part only opens in the spring.
"Let's discuss to see if we can do better," he pleads.
It will surely be well received by supporters' associations.
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