Everything you need to know about the new European Super League plans

The shockwave of the European Super League was felt across the football world again on Thursday as new proposals were announced for a tournament that would shake up the sport as we know it.

A ruling from the European Court of Justice appeared to breathe life into the plans which initially failed so spectacularly in 2021, reigniting a debate which raged so strongly when it was raised two years ago.

However, while the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona were celebrating football being "free" from UEFA's grip, the reality of the situation remains fraught with complications, legal issues and intense public disdain.

Here, Sports Mole rounds up everything you need to know about the new European Super League plans, and how likely they are to actually happen.

What has happened?

The thorny issue of the European Super League arose again on Thursday in the wake of a European Court of Justice ruling that UEFA and FIFA acted "unlawfully" when moving to block the proposed formation of the competition and sanction the clubs involved back in 2021.

It was decided that they "abused a dominant position" in the market and therefore breached EU competition law, having not ensured suitable conditions and criteria to enable rival promoters access to the market.

A company called A22 Sports - backed by chief European Super League protagonists Real Madrid and Barcelona - then followed the ruling by unveiling their proposal for a new iteration of the competition.

On first viewing the ECL ruling looked like a major win for the European Super League and a significant defeat for UEFA and FIFA, although the governing bodies have been quick to downplay the significance of it.

Indeed, many of the rules which the ECJ decided were unlawful have already been changed, but the ECJ were only using the rules in place at the time of the initial European Super League proposals.

What this means in practice is that UEFA and FIFA effectively protected themselves against Thursday's statement well over a year in advance.

What is the history of the European Super League idea?

While the new proposals on Thursday were inextricably linked to the plans outlined some 32 months ago, the idea of a European Super League is nothing new.

Indeed, the subject has been discussed in just about every decade from the 1960s onwards, and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has been pushing for something similar since at least 2009.

It was in 2021 that we perhaps came closest to seeing those plans become concrete, with 12 clubs - Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan - signing on and signalling their intent to break away from UEFA.

That was a seismic shock to the football world and a move which threatened to change the very essence of the sport, and as such it prompted huge levels of protests amongst supporters, players, clubs and governing bodies.

Such was the calamitous nature of the launch, with a non-existent PR strategy and remarkably limited public backing from any of the actual individuals involved rather than their clubs, that the idea soon crumbled in embarrassing fashion for the 12 clubs.

All six English teams quickly scurried away from the deal amid inescapable fan pressure, and they were soon joined by Atletico, Inter and Milan.

Juventus took longer to distance themselves from the plans, due largely to the central role Andrea Agnelli played in creating the new-look tournament, but they eventually signalled their intent to leave too.

Moves were soon made to prevent anything similar from happening in the future, although Thursday's ruling - which notably went against the Advocate General's initial opinion from last December - removes one of those hurdles.

What will a new European Super League look like?

Perhaps the biggest bone of contention when it came to the 2021 plans was that it was a closed-shop tournament, seemingly designed to keep the 12 high-profile clubs involved at the top of the sport, at least financially.

Promotion and relegation were not included, alienating the vast majority of the world's other clubs and their fans and raising serious questions over the sporting integrity of a competition which contained no real punishment for repeated failure.

When unveiling the new plans, A22 Sports CEO Bernd Reichart was desperate to stress that version 2.0 would be a meritocratic system in which participation would be based solely on sporting performance.

The men's tournament would see 64 clubs participate - a significant jump from the 20 proposed teams from 2021 - in a three-tier system.

The top two tiers - the Star League and the Gold League - would contain 16 clubs each, while the third tier - the Blue League - would consist of 32 teams.

None of those teams would be permanent participants, with annual promotion and relegation between the tiers, while promotion into the Blue League would depend on performance within domestic leagues.

All clubs would play a minimum of 14 matches per year - home and away games in two groups of eight - before a knockout stage to determine the champions of each league and which clubs would be promoted.

A22 Sports also insist that the schedule would see no increase in the number of games already proposed by "existing competitions" - i.e. the Champions League, Europa League and European Conference League.

The women's competition would work in much the same way, but with 32 teams split into two tiers.

Crucially, no clubs were namechecked as potential participants, but A22 Sports did promise "guaranteed revenues" as well as solidarity payments and a digital streaming platform that would make matches free to watch.

What has the reaction been?

Unsurprisingly, overwhelmingly negative.

Fans may not have taken to the streets in protest across Europe just yet, but that is perhaps because they do not feel the need, such has been the opposition to the plans from clubs, including more than half of those that were part of the original proposal in 2021.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid have all publicly rejected the idea and reaffirmed their commitment to UEFA, FIFA and the ECA, as have a host of other clubs who were not involved in the 2021 unveiling.

That includes the likes of Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund, all of whom are staunchly against the idea.

It was no surprise to see the governing bodies unanimously condemn the proposals too, with FIFA, UEFA, the Premier League, La Liga and plenty more rejecting the notion of a European Super League actually coming to fruition.

There has been notable silence from some clubs - namely AC Milan and Juventus as members of the original 12 - with none of them yet releasing statements signalling their opposition to the plans.

However, it should also be noted that they have not backed the plans either; indeed, only Real Madrid and Barcelona - the main protagonists all along - have publicly come out in support of A22 Sport's new tournament, and that was expected given that they set the company up.

The launch of the new ideas hailed European football as now being "free" from UEFA's "monopoly", with Reichart repeatedly stressing the apparent improvements in these plans compared to those in 2021.

However, the positive reaction has so far been outweighed hugely by the negative reaction and, with no specific clubs even named as possible future participants in the tournament yet, there has been little need for supporters to rally to the same extent as they did two years ago.

Will a European Super League happen?

This is the multi-million pound question, and it is one that cannot be answered conclusively right now.

Certainly, those behind A22 Sports believe that it is not only a viable route forward, but a vital route forward for the future of European football.

Thursday's ruling removed one of the hurdles in their way to make it possible, but there is still a long, long way to go - and many more bigger obstacles to overcome - before a European Super League can become a reality.

The ECJ ruling does not approve the European Super League nor does it compel UEFA and FIFA to accept a rival tournament in the future.

The most glaring immediate issue for A22 Sports is actually getting clubs that are willing to play in the tournament, and those issues largely stem from just how visceral the fans' reaction to the 2021 plans was.

A host of Europe's top clubs have already rejected the idea, and it would be a surprise if the four others beside Real Madrid and Barcelona from the original 12 do not follow suit in the next day or so.

Can it really be called a "Super League" without any of the Premier League's 'big six', either of last year's Champions League finalists, Bayern Munich or PSG?

At the current rate, A22 Sports would need to go fairly far down the football pyramid in a number of countries to fill their 64 places, which dilutes the very essence of their proposal to give fans all-star showdowns to watch on a weekly basis.

The dream of the European Super League was originally to have regular heavyweight tussles between the likes of Liverpool and Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United or Manchester City and Juventus, but that will of course not be possible if the majority of those clubs refuse to participate.

Of course, money talks in football and depending on the promises of riches on offer then some clubs may be tempted into a U-turn, but then they would need to deal with another fan revolt.

It was arguably the ferocity of the supporters' opposition to the 2021 plans which played the biggest role in them collapsing so quickly, and there would likely be a similar reaction this time around if the prospect of this coming to fruition looked likely.

Many modern club owners may be detached from their fans, but they bowed to their demands in 2021 and it is hard to see any scenario - aside from owners utterly disregarding the supporters' desires - where they could join a new European Super League without similar levels of dissent and discontent.

And even if those major obstacles were traversed, there are likely to be significant legal complications for any club attempting to join a breakaway tournament.

In England, a new independent regulator is set to dictate conditions which would prevent any club from doing so, while the Italian and French governments are thought to be making similar steps.

German clubs have never been likely to sign up due to the ownership model in the country, leaving Spain as the only one of the top five European leagues with something resembling a clear path to participating - although even that would be far from smooth-sailing.

The idea is not likely to go away any time soon, and Thursday's ruling will probably just be one in a long, long line of legal battles between the two sides.

However, it is safe to assume that a European Super League is at least years away from becoming a reality and, barring major changes in attitudes and ambitions, may never actually make it to the field.

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