Yesterday soccer changed forever.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City, Juventus, Inter Milan, and AC Milan soccer clubs have announced they will be forming a new league called the European Super League. An additional three founding clubs will be part of the league with an added five clubs every year based on the previous seasons’ achievements.
Making the news even more shocking UEFA and FIFA have come out and said that players and clubs will be banned from all (UEFA and FIFA) competitions and some reports have the federations planning to sue the departing clubs for billions. That seems to include this years UEFA Champions League with three out of the four teams in the semi finals set to be booted from the competition. Is it finally time for a PSG Champions league triumph, at long last they lift the trophy, by default?
This is the latest step in the power consolidation in soccer that has been going on for decades- as long ago as the conversation about a super league began. There have always been talks about a league like this forming for Europe’s biggest clubs to combine forces to suck up viewership, and more to the point, broadcast rights’ dollars. Although we do not know exactly what will come of this, there is no doubt that soccer in Europe will never be the same.