They couldn’t even wait for the current season to end. Florentino Perez, current Real Madrid, and Super League president, announced on Sunday, April 18 that 12 of Europe’s top soccer clubs joined forces to create a new and innovative competition, but only for the rich and famous.
Of course, UEFA, FIFA, and soccer enthusiasts all around the world have something to say about it, including us, which is why we’re going to take a look at some of the implications and potential sports betting impact surrounding the Super League.
Super League Context
Let’s address the elephant in the room: it’s all about money. The Super League winner could cash in up to 400 million euros, the clubs doesn’t have to share revenue with other clubs in their domestic league, and broadcasting and commercial rights would be more valuable than the UEFA Champions League Odds /Europa League rights.
Of course, the founders are not going to accept it: “We’ve come together at this critical time to bring about a transformation in the European game to give the sport that we love the foundations to make it sustainable in the future by considerably increasing the solidarity payments and giving fans and amateur players a dream and offering games of the highest quality that will feed their passion for football,” said Andrea Agnelli, Juventus president, and Super League vice-president.
That being said, it’s true that every single game would be like a UEFA Champions League semifinal, and nobody can deny that’s pretty interesting. Also, the fans can enjoy four games more than usual.
Until now, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, AC Milan, Juventus, and Inter Milan already said YES, but other European powerhouses such as Bayern Munich and PSG said NO.
Why say NO? Well, because UEFA and FIFA threatened them with banning them from other competitions, including the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, and the World Cup — that’s right, the FIFA World Cup!
Can you imagine the 2022 World Cup without Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Sergio Ramos, Kevin De Bruyne, Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku and many more? I can’t, and don’t want to.
Reactions
UEFA executive committee member Jesper Moller said it all: “The clubs must go, and I expect that to happen on Friday. Then we have to find out how to finish the Champions League tournament.”
Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City are qualified for the Champions League semifinals, which should start next week, but now we’ve to wait. Also, Manchester United is the current heavy favorite at the Odds to win the UEFA Europa League.
Some players such as Bruno Fernandes from Manchester United, Joao Cancelo from Manchester City, Ander Herrera from PSG, and Mesut Ozil from Fenerbahce spoke out against the Super League through social media, regardless of format and other details.
Luis Figo, ex Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan player supported them on Twitter: “This so-called Super League is anything but Super. This greedy and callous move would spell disaster for our grassroots, for women’s soccer, and the wider soccer community.”
What’s Next?
According to the 12 founding clubs, the Super League should start next August, but we’re going to have to wait and see. If that’s the case, the Champions League and Europa League are going to have plenty of newcomers, some who until now couldn’t even dream of playing such a prestigious competition.
Even the videogames industry could be affected, because the popular EA Sports annual entry “FIFA” could look a lot different without 12-20 clubs and hundreds of players. If the Super League truly joins the sports calendar, all Soccer Betting enthusiasts are going to have more options to play and win, but it would be much more complicated to predict a first round matchup. For example, it isn’t the same to predict Real Madrid vs Manchester City than Real Madrid vs Borussia Monchengladbach, one of the Spanish side games during the last Champions’ group stage.
