SAN FRANCISCO, October 20, (THEWILL) – Reports monitored by THEWILL show evidence that more than a dozen big football clubs from across Europe are in talks to become initial founding members of a potential novel competition called the “European Premier League”. It is a new competition with the potential to end up usurping the Champions League’s reputation as the preeminent elite European club tournament.
Among the sides involved in these tasks are the pair of Manchester United and Liverpool from the English Premier League. THEWILL recalls that these two clubs were behind the heavily criticised and recently dismissed ‘Project Big Picture’ in England, which sought to reduce the size of Premier League, hand more power over the running of the League to the country’s biggest teams and provide a financial bailout for sides lower down the league pyramid.
The reports revealed that financiers are actively seeking to arrange a funding package worth an exorbitant £4.6 billion, with prize money for the winners of this new potential breakaway competition perhaps worth hundreds of millions every season.
The structure of the competition will feature up to 18 teams competing each year, with fixtures scheduled for the European season. This initial league format would then give way to a final playoffs-style knockout tournament to determine the overall winner.
It seems to be the closest those involved have come towards offering a breakaway European Super League, a consideration that has been rumoured on and off for years. Yet, THEWILL notes that, as at present, nothing is confirmed.
Easing local worries across the continent, the reports show that this will not impact participation in existing domestic leagues. Hence, Manchester United and Liverpool, for instance, would continue to play in English Premier League. However, it has the potential to kill off the Champions League.
The clubs of Old Trafford and Anfield weren’t the only English sides involved. Other teams that were approached about potentially joining include Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham. The composition of the competition may have room for five English clubs out of the 18 in total. The rest will come from Spain and Italy, France and Germany. That means one of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ could miss out.
For a competition styled as an elite European club League, obvious choices for invitation will be Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.
Each founder member of the ‘European Premier League’ could be paid hundreds of millions to participate, an incentive that is likely to make participation favourable for these clubs.
According to the reports, FIFA is believed to have backed this new continental competition. As yet, THEWILL has no assurance whether UEFA has given its blessings to the new tournament, as sources cited in the reports answered in the negative, claiming there is no UEFA greenlight.
Without UEFA’s backing, it may be hard for this novel ‘European Premier League’ to become operational any time soon owing to expected legal challenges, especially as the current period of UEFA club competition structure covers the period until the summer of 2024.
Other details, such as whether it would be a closed league solely for founder members or if it would be possible for clubs to qualify through domestic leagues, remain unclear, at this point.
THEWILL will bring updates as they come.
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.
