BEVERLY HILLS, April 20, (THEWILL) – The announcement of the formation of a new European Super League that intends to pitch the best sides in Europe only against the other best sides in Europe and which already has 12 of these sides as founding members from the Top Five of Europe’s football leagues, set the footballing world into a tizzy since Sunday night, easily dominating sports’ headlines all Monday.
Reactions have poured from across the football sphere with very little in support of the new League. The majority of responses have been negative and understandably riled with what many have referred to as the selfish, money-minded decision the clubs took to bring about the new League. Even rabid fans of these big sides have publicly voiced their opposition to the move.
On its part, the world football governing body, FIFA, which had initially warned against this very action of a breakaway League, issued a statement on Monday stating, in very unambiguous terms, where it stands in the contentious subject. The statement was barebones as it did not carry the force of sanctions that some were expecting to come from football’s top authority.
It began: “In view of several media requests and as already stated several times, FIFA wishes to clarify that it stands firm in favour of solidarity in football and an equitable redistribution model which can help develop football as a sport, particularly at global level, since the development of global football is the primary mission of FIFA.
“In our view, and in accordance with our statutes, any football competition, whether national, regional or global, should always reflect the core principles of solidarity, inclusivity, integrity and equitable financial redistribution. Moreover, the governing bodies of football should employ all lawful, sporting and diplomatic means to ensure this remains the case.”
FIFA continued: “Against this background, FIFA can only express its disapproval to a “closed European breakaway league” outside of the international football structures and not respecting the aforementioned principles.”
By way of conclusion, the football body finished by saying: “FIFA always stands for unity in world football and calls on all parties involved in heated discussions to engage in calm, constructive and balanced dialogue for the good of the game and in the spirit of solidarity and fair play. FIFA will, of course, do whatever is necessary to contribute to a harmonised way forward in the overall interests of football.”
It was a more conciliatory tone that lacked the fight in the initial statement FIFA made, as reported by THEWILL when, in January this year, it came out forcefully and directly condemned the actions of anyone involved in the planning of the super league, whilst threatening deterrent actions.
The joint statement of FIFA and UEFA, AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and OFC at that time carried as similar a weight as UEFA’s recent statement of reaction to the new League. That January statement read:
“In light of recent media speculation about the creation of a closed European “Super League” by some European clubs, FIFA and the six confederations (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA) once again would like to reiterate and strongly emphasise that such a competition would not be recognised by either FIFA or the respective confederation.
“Any club or player involved in such a competition would as a consequence not be allowed to participate in any competition organised by FIFA or their respective confederation. As per the FIFA and confederations statutes, all competitions should be organised or recognised by the relevant body at their respective level, by FIFA at the global level and by the confederations at the continental level.
“In this respect, the confederations recognise the FIFA Club World Cup, in its current and new format, as the only worldwide club competition while FIFA recognises the club competitions organised by the confederations as the only club continental competitions.
“The universal principles of sporting merit, solidarity, promotion and relegation, and subsidiarity are the foundation of the football pyramid that ensures football’s global success and are, as such, enshrined in the FIFA and confederation statutes.
“Football has a long and successful history thanks to these principles. Participation in global and continental competitions should always be won on the pitch.”
It is surprising to notice the softening of tone from FIFA. Could it be that it did not see the force of power that these teams wielded at the time or the world football governing body simply felt it was not possible for these teams to agree on terms of a new League or just felt the need to appear to be strong but with no desire to back that strength up with action?
It was significant to note that there were no threats or warnings of repercussions for participating in the new League from the new FIFA Statement. It simply stated a few facts that everyone in football already knew and left the question of what it will do if these clubs stubbornly stick to their decisions on the new League and commence the games, hanging without resolution.
Whatever the case, it will be interesting to watch the developments that this new League will take football in Europe, in particular, and across the world, in general, as things begin to take shape for the founding members of the new League and all the forces beginning to rise against them.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
