Super League promoters fight on after poll boost

PARIS: Bernd Reichart, CEO of A22 Sports Management, presented Monday a poll that showed 72 per cent of football fans have a favourable opinion of the European Super League project.

“We still have to convince and to overcome a certain reluctantness of opening the window, change the chip in your mind, and the need for change in European football,” said Reichart of the promotion of the breakaway competition.

According to the OpinionWay poll commissioned by A22, the Super League’s promoter, 72 per cent of the people surveyed in eight European countries said they were in favour of the creation of the project.

The percentage of support is even higher amongst younger supporters, with 86 percent of 15-to 24-year-olds polled being in favour of the Super League.

But Reichart said work still needed to be done to ensure clubs feel “comfortable” to express positive support for the competition.

“(We) need to build a safe haven for clubs to decide, and only to decide, what’s best for them.”

Announced in 2021 by 12 clubs, the first Super League project collapsed after outrage from fans of the English clubs involved and threats from governing bodies UEFA and FIFA. Within 48 hours of that announcement nine of the 12 rebel clubs – including six from the Premier League – backed down.

The project was given a new lease of life in December when the European Court of Justice found that UEFA, European football’s governing body, as well as world body FIFA had been “abusing a dominant position” by submitting any new competitions to their prior approval.

In the wake of the ruling, A22 announced plans for a new project with 64 teams from across Europe split into three divisions with promotion and relegation within their system.