Dortmund and Bayern ‘reject’ Super League plans: Watzke
BERLIN: Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund said on Monday that they and German rivals Bayern Munich both rejected proposals to form a European Super League.
In a statement on Monday, Dortmund chairman Hans-joachim Watzke said that the members of the European Club Association (ECA) had met on Sunday evening and expressed ‘a clear opinion to reject the foundation of a Super League’.
He added that the two German clubs on the ECA board, Bayern and Dortmund, had taken ‘100 per cent’ the same position ‘in all discussions’.
The announcement appears to confirm that neither of Germany’s two biggest clubs will join the breakaway league, whose announcement on Sunday threw European football into turmoil.
JUVE, UTD SHARES JUMP: Shares in Juventus and Manchester United jumped on Monday ater the clubs announced a breakaway European Super League with another 10 of football’s most powerful teams.
The Italian club’s shares closed nearly 18 per cent higher at 0.91 euros on the Milan stock market, ater sliding since it was eliminated from the Champions League in March.
United, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was up 9.7 per cent in US trading around 1625 GMT.
Overnight, the two clubs confirmed their participation in the new venture alongside other clubs from Italy, England and Spain.
“The financial incentive for the clubs is plain to see, with a multi-billion dollar package at the heart of the scheme, albeit it would forever break the integrity of the club game,” said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com.
“The sort of additional revenues the ESL will deliver would need to be offset by a potential material decline or total loss of existing earnings from media deals through national leagues and UEFA,” he said.
ARSENAL, SPURS FANS ANGRY: Arsenal and Totenham Hotspur fans enjoy a fierce rivalry but the announcement of the European Super League achieved the rare feat of uniting them virtually as one in condemnation.
Both north London clubs -- just 6.4 kilometres apart -- make up the Premier League big six that signed up to the breakaway league that has sent shockwaves through the sport.
The clubs, most of them saddled with debt and large wage bills, and hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, stand to benefit financially.
Arsenal’s best hope lies in winning the Europa League -- they are in the semi-finals -- while Spurs are five points off fourth-placed West Ham in the league. Tim Payton, a board member of the Arsenal Supporters Trust (AST), told AFP the Super League would be “the death of football”, going against ideals of “sporting competition and qualifying on merit”.
“We need the FA (Football Association) and the Premier League to be firm with these clubs,” he said.
“How much money are they going to earn if they can’t sell season tickets for next year in the Premier League? We must challenge this at every level.”
However, another Gunners fan 57-year-old healthcare worker Antonio Gazzella was a rare voice speaking up in support of the breakaway.
“I’m happy with that,” he told AFP.