UK gov’t wades into Super League revolt
PARIS (AFP) — Plans for a Super League announced by 12 of European football's most powerful clubs plunged the game into an unprecedented crisis on Tuesday as the UK government threatened to invoke competition law to block a breakaway.
Six Premier League teams Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur — joined forces with Spanish giants Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid as well as Italian trio Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan to launch the competition.
They plan to leave the UEFAsanctioned Champions League and start their new tournament "as soon as possible", with plans for three more founding members to join and five other clubs to be invited annually. The competition threatens to completely upturn the world's biggest sport and leaves the prestigious Champions League — itself the fruit of the last major shakeup in European football in 1992 facing an uncertain future. Britain's culture secretary Oliver Dowden said the English clubs could find themselves subject to a formal review under British anti-trust law, which prevents the formation of monopolies or corporate cartels.
"We will put everything on the table to prevent this from happening," the minister said, vowing a "very robust response".
The breakaway announcement came just hours before UEFA announced a new format for the Champions League, which had been conceived to placate the continent's biggest clubs.
European football's governing body is pressing ahead with the new format from 2024 onwards, which will see the number of clubs involved increase from 32 to 36 with each team guaranteed 10 games.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin lashed out at the breakaway plan, calling it a "disgraceful self-serving proposal from a select few clubs purely fuelled by greed".
The Slovenian added that European member associations were "all united against this nonsensical project" and said players involved would not be allowed to play for national teams, effectively banning them from taking part in European Championships and World Cups.