A new breakaway European football competition proposed last month would not really be open to outsiders and would cut the revenues of non-elite clubs by more than half, one of the Super League’s biggest critics said on Tuesday.
Javier Tebas, the president of the Spanish league, said that La Liga and other domestic leagues would lose 50-55 per cent of their revenues from a mid-week Super League competition, according to a 2022 study by KPMG.
“With the new model it’s even worse,” he told a small group of reporters.
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European football governing body UEFA currently provides 96 spots in the group phases of its competitions based almost exclusively on performance in domestic leagues.
The latest Super League proposal envisages three tiers, but only gives 20 spots to its third tier league based on domestic performance, with just two teams promoted per year to the second or top tiers.
“It does not fulfil European sports law... It really is closed,” Tebas said.
Tebas said this was far less open than a 2019 idea to offer access to all tiers of a three-tier European league, but which European clubs widely rejected.
The new proposal by promoter A22 is a revision of one made in 2021, when 12 major clubs proposed a breakaway league with no relegation for core members.
That new plan emerged on December 21, the day the European Court of Justice delivered a verdict that gave hope to both sides, by ruling against the principle of governing bodies UEFA and FIFA restricting a new league, but not necessarily saying such a league must be approved.
Real Madrid President Florentino Perez, an ardent Super League supporter, said the ruling marked “a before and after” for football.
Tebas said he had not seen European clubs warming to the idea of league, noting some of the biggest, such as Manchester City and Bayern Munich, had publicly come out against.
Tebas said that, although interest in a Super League appeared limited for now, one had to be on guard.
“You don’t always need to be worried, but you must be busy,” he said.
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