1. What is the ESL
The ESL is a closed football league created by twelve clubs entitled as the "founders", that aims to provide mid-week matches, thus replacing Champions League football (UCL). These twelve clubs are AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur. It is expected 3 more clubs to join this new League. Clubs from Portugal (Porto, Benfica, Sporting) refused to join, the big giant from France, PSG, was invited but refused to join like the german clubs (Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund). Almost all football associations from europe and their clubs expressed their disapproval towards this new league. The chairman man is the Real Madrid president, Florentino Pérez, Vice-Chairman is Andrea Agnelli (president of Juventus) and the second Vice-Chairman is Joel Glazer (president of Manchester United).
2. What does this mean to football
Creating a private league where teams can't access for their sporting merit creates an underlying issue related to the identity of football. For example, in England the sport was created by the working class, it belonged to the poor. Fast forward to these days, we see a lot of clubs owned by some rich guys who don't care about the sport. Some of them don't even know what an off-side rule is. They treat football as a business to generate money, as their primary job is to maximise revenues and profit with what's so called "the beautiful game" that was created by the poor and stolen by the rich.
In the beginning of international competitions, nations could only play in a World Cup through an invitation. As the years went by, FIFA regulated the competition and made it accessible for every nation in the world, this means, every country in planet earth has a small chance of take part in a World Cup, and perhaps winning it. They even expanded the 2026 World Cup for 48 teams, instead of the actual 32.
So, the identity of football relies on the small chance of every small team/club in world to achieve the biggest competition in their region for their sporting merit, and not by the invite of some wealthy individuals. Every kid who plays football in Europe dreams to play in the champions league and in big clubs, every kid in the world dreams to dress the shirt of their country and play a World Cup for their nation. We can only keep these dreams alive if the sport rewards the merit of each individual. Creating private leagues that can only be access with invites will kill the game. A private league where you only need to play to win money, (no relegation) will kill the spirit and identity of football. ESL will kill the dreams of million kids around the globe that want to play in the highest and prestigious place of the game, and that place, should only be access by your own merit and hard work.
3. FIFA and UEFA
FIFA and UEFA are trying hard in preventing this madness to happen. UEFA and FIFA stated that the players who play in the ESL, will be forbidden to play on champions league, World Cup, and in the European Championship this summer. Alexander Ceferin, the president of UEFA even stated "We will try to use all the sanctions against the Super League clubs. As soon as possible they have to be BANNED from all our competitions, players too”. Ceferin, goes even the extra mile and says "We might be naive in not knowing we have snakes close to us. Now we do. There will be legal action soon.". So has we can see, FIFA and UEFA are doing everything they can to protect the integrity of the game around the world.
4. Governments and fans around the world
The president of France was the first to condemn this ESL followed by Boris Johnson and his culture secretary. The European Commission Vice-President tweeted "We must defend a values-driven European model of sport based on diversity and inclusion. There is no scope for reserving it for the few rich and powerful clubs who want to severe links with everything associations stand for.". Around Europe, there are a lot of ex-players like Luís Figo, Rio Ferdinand, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil who take a stance against ESL. Current active players like Ander Herrera, Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Daniel Podence (Wolves), João Cancelo (Manchester City) and Rafael Leão (Milan) share the same position as the ex-players. Almost all fans in Europe and around the world, including myself, are pretty disappointed with this madness, and we all hope that the project doesn’t move forward. In the end, we can only show our support to FIFA and UEFA, our disappointment, and hope that this project ends soon.
Thank you for your reading, if you have any suggestion feel free to send.
Best Regards
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