With Arsenal joining countless other teams across Europe in distancing themselves from the European Super League, we are now able to reveal the 64 teams that participate in the inaugural European Super League:
Richard Head, spokesman for A22 Sports Management commented: “We are delighted to announce such a stellar line-up for the inaugural European Super League.
“The 64 teams involved will forever be able to say that they were founding members of the greatest soccer tournament on earth. We can also announce that the final of the Star League will take place in the Cayman Islands, where the winners will be paid $200m“.
A22 have also announced the appointment of Joseph Barton as Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion.
In a brief statement, Joseph said: “This is going to be a proper tournament with men commentating on men, and women serving the teas.” The expectation is Barton will install himself as the tournaments chief pundit.
The first European Super League will commence in the 2024/25 season.
SheWore Note: If you have not worked it out, this a satirical piece. Have a great Christmas.
Nearly time for Christmas! Last day at work for most of us. Hats off to all those who will be working over the next 7-days – your retail and hospitality workers, delivery drivers, etc. These unsung heroes do not get the credit they deserve whilst we are all sitting enjoying a few days or weeks off.
Yesterday there were two bits of news that sort of connect – February TV games announced and the new European Super League proposal.
Three of our February Premier League fixtures have been moved:
Liverpool at home will now Sunday, 4 February , 4.30pm kick-off.
West Ham United away has been moved to a Sunday, 11 February, kicking off at 2pm.
Lastly, Newcastle United at the Emirates will be at 8pm on Saturday, 24 February 24.
Now from an Arsenal fans point of view, I am relieved ,sort of.
The long away trip to Burnley remains at 3pm and West Ham at 2pm on a Sunday is decent. The Newcastle game is the only one at an awkward kick off time – but it is a lot worse for Newcastle fans.
And that is my main issue. Kick off times affect all traveling fans – both those traveling from Newcastle and those Arsenal fans that commute in. 8pm on a Saturday is just designed for greed to maximise overseas TV revenue. The 8pm kick off is basically to satisfy our little cousins across the pond.
The last train back for Newcastle fans from London is at 21:00 – just as the second half is kicking off. There is a slightly later (and much longer) train that leaves London at 22:05 and involves a change. This will get them back to Newcastle at 3:20; and they would need to leave at half time to get to Kings Cross in time.
All the bluster from Sky Sports, BT (now TNT) and the Premier League about how they were “standing up for match going fans” back in 2021 when the European Super League last reared its ugly head was just posturing. Neville, Carragher, et al have always turned a blind eye to how match going fans are treated by the company they work for (and yes, I know this game is on TNT. Sky would have a 10pm kick off if they were allowed).
The TV companies do not care about match going fans. They only care about profits.
It will be interesting to see their response to the latest European Super League proposals – also announced yesterday.
My bet is they come out and say “fans have already made it clear that they do not want the European Super League”, ignoring the fact that we have also all made it clear previously that we do not want games with no trains home.
The revamped Super League is as posterous as the one proposed back in 2021.
The investment group behind it have this time attempted to make it seem “more inclusive” by having “promotion and relegation” and including a women’s competition.
The promotion and relegation aspect makes it appear that it will create a “fair opportunity” for teams to qualify, with 20 teams in the “Blue League” (the bottom of pyramid) getting relegated. But this is not the case.
Just 2 out of 16 teams in the “Star League” get relegated to the “Gold League”, and only 2 teams from that leafgue drop down into the bottom Blue League.
So whilst with the Champions League, you could, in theory, have 32 different teams in it each year, you can only have 2 different teams in the Star League from the previous year. It is clearly a ploy to protect the interests of those in the Star League by protecting them with a very low chance of relegation. The turnover of teams will be at the bottom end.
You will also only be promoted into the Blue League if a team from your domestic league gets relegated.
So Aston Villa this season could finish top 4. That will see them qualify for the Champions League. But finishing top 4 would not see them qualify for the European Super League unless an English team finishes in the bottom reaches of the Blue League, which will be highly unlikely.
The criticism of the previous European Super League was it was a closed shop. This incarnation allows others into the basement of the shop, but the big boys are still playing with each other upstairs.
A22 (the investment group behind the European Super League) have also tried to bribe fans by saying “fans would also be able to watch live matches for free on a new digital streaming platform.”
Most fans will see through this and know it will be temporary until they have “bought the market”. It is basically like the “one-year free trail” The Athletic gave out (and many other companies), and then once they decide the free period is over the prices are hiked up.
And even if it was free for life, I would not want it. And it just highlights again that the European Super League is for the TV fans, not the match going fans.
A simply solution for the Premier League, FA, UEFA and FIFA is to make it very clear:
Clubs – If you enter the European Super League, you are excluded from all domestic, UEFA and FIFA competitions.
Players – If you play for a team in the European Super League, you are banned from representing your country.
This will throw the European Super League into chaos as they are trying to “work with domestic leagues” by having promotion and relegation from domestic leagues. If those teams involved no longer play in domestic competition, it will get stale quickly.
At the time of writing, teams are already distancing themselves from the European Super League – Manchester United and Atletico Madrid the two biggest, as well as the Bundesliga as a collective.
Considering PSG refused to get involved in the last version, and English teams would likely be unable to participate under if new legislation is passed in 2024, the potential available particpating teams is quickly shrinking.
Real Madrid and Barcelona will allows push for it. The pair have overspent their way to glory in the last 30 years and are now paying for it. They are both poorly run clubs who in the past have relied on “state aid” to balance their books.
Juventus are another team who are pushing for the European Super League. Juventus were considered to be the leading club in the 2006 Serie A match fixing scandal, alongside AC Milan (another Italian club pushing for the formation of the Super League).
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan all blame the Premier League for their huge debt. The reality is they all owe so much because their spending went unregulated and they backed that their countries will bail them out
Reasons for the European Super League, part 2: the 12 clubs have £5.6 bln of debt, per UEFA’s definition of financial debt (£3.5 bln) and transfer debt (£2.1 bln). Moreover, almost all of the financial debt has come from banks (£3.3 bln), compared to only £0.2 bln from owners. pic.twitter.com/Ck6YUp0Fbg
(note: most of the Premier League sides debt in the table above is associated with stadium and training ground redevelopments, whilst the European sides is mainly money owed in transfers and due to overpaying wages for decades. Debt not secured against an asset.)
Decades of mismanagement and corruption is now catching up with a lot of teams on the continent. It is their fault they are all in such a bad financial situation, not the fault of the Premier League.
If Madrid, Juventus and Barcelona continue to push for the Super League, they will probably find themselves joined by Russian and Turkish teams, maybe Portuguese, as well as others from Eastern Europe. Will there really be any interest in 16 teams playing each other if it excludes English, French and German (I imagine the Dutch will also side with their fellow Central Europeans)? No.
Yes, the Champions League would suffer, but the domestic leagues would thrive in the absence of a top teams in Serie A and La Liga no longer playing each other. These leagues would very quickly die off.
The European Super League is clearly a bad idea. The only silver lining is it sounds like UEFA are scrapping their plans for a revamped Champions League.
My final thought is back in England, and a comment I made earlier.
Sky, TNT Sports, the Premier League do not stick up for match going fans. They only care for their own interests. And having Newcastle fans travel to London for an 8pm Saturday kick off highlights this!
A year ago, the debate over who was the best defensive midfielder in the Premier League was 3-pronged: Thomas Partey, Rodri, Casemiro. Declan Rice was then considered by many as “best of the rest”.
Since Rice joined Arsenal in July, there is no longer a debate as to who is the best in the Premier League. Rice is now clear of the trio above. And such is Rice’s improvement, I think you will find very few debating against the view that he is the best cetral midfielder in world football.
Rice was always a very good “backs to the wall battler,” he had to be playing for West Ham. He excelled when opponents would pile on the pressure and his role would be to stop, block, intercept, clear, reset. These are natural attributes that have taken Arsenal’s defensive play to the next level. We recruited a player who will cover every blade of grass and put on his body on the line to defend a lead, to stop an opponent.
Where Rice has taken his game to a new level as he no longer sees his job to merely be “stop, block, intercept, clear, reset”.
At a team like Arsenal, the game is not about getting the ball up the pitch and then wait for the next wave of attack. After he has won the ball, he now gets his head up and decides how we will transition the ball from defence to attack, releasing the pressure by starting our attacking plays.
To highlight the difference in the way he is playing, the amount of passes he makes per game has increased since joining The Arsenal, as has his completion ratio. Meanwhile, he is playing about half as many long balls compared to his time at West Ham.
Once Rice has won the ball, he now looks for a forward passing opportunity to a team mate, rather than just smashes the ball clear into the channels for a Michail Antonio or Jarrod Bowen to run on to. Of course, it helps he is playing with better players at The Arsenal, and playing with better players make you a better player.
Rice does not just look to make a simple pass, however, when trying to launch an attack. He is also Patrick Vieira-esque in the way he can drive forward with the ball at his feet.
When Rice gets going, he is nearly impossible to stop. Like with Vieira, and Yaya Toure, he is a mountain of a man who is nearly impossible to fairly dispose, and has enough pace that when he brushes off an opponent, he can run clear.
I have lost count how often he has broken through the lines this season, running with the ball from the mid-way of our own half deep into the opponents. This not only releases the pressure but also creates attacking opportunities.
What is impressive about Rice is that Yaya and Vieira needed someone in behind them (Fernandinho, Petit/Gilberto) who did the bulk of the defensive work. Rice gets through the defensive work of Gilberto and the transitional play of Vieira. He really is two players in one.
And this will benefit England.
When Gareth Southgate’s side made the final at the last Euro’s, England played with a duel defensive wall – Rice and Kalvin Phillips. Such is Rice’s improvement since than that Southgate only needs Rice – a single pivot defensive midfielder.
Rice’s presence will allow Southgate to have two more attacking options on the pitch – likely to be Jude Bellingham and one of Phil Foden, James Maddison or Mason Mount. Without Rice’s progress this season, Southgate would probablybe looking at playing Jordan Henderson or Phillips next to Rice.
When you look at what Rice is currently doing on a football pitch, I struggle to look at another central midfielder who is having a similar impact.
Injuries to Thomas Partey and Casemiro have impacted their ranking, whilst Rodri does not have the ball carrying and attacking skills of Rice. Rodri also does not have Rice’s discipling (Rice: 1 yellow card, Rodri: 6 yellow and 1 red card).
Outside the Premier League, Joshua Kimmich is fantastic but does not have Rice’s physique that allows him to dominate physically. Kimmich also rarely drives forward with the ball at his feet. It is no surprise that the German is apparantly on Manchester City’s wish list, but Kimmich just does not dominate a game like Rice (and plays at a lower level in the Bundesliga).
Aurelien Tchouameni is another who is fantastic central midfielder. The Frenchman will be a contender for “best in the world” alongside Rice, but for now I feel he is the level below.
The last contender to Rice’s crown is Manuel Ugarte, but his progress would have stalled having signed for PSG. Ligue 1 is such a poor standard and it feels like players careers die when they move to PSG.
There a load of midfielders, such as Martin Odegaard, Luka Modric, Alexis Mac Allister and Bruno Guimarães who dominate when on the ball and are stylisih players, but do not have the defensive work rate of Rice.
Rice could play further up the field, where these guys do their best work, but they could not play as the deepest, most defensive midfielder.
What I think is crazy about Rice as well is he is still only 24. He is still getting better and under a coach like Mikel Arteta, he will continually add new attributes to his game.
Like Yaya Toure, Rice has the ability to become a 10-goal a season or more man. But where Rice is better is he will not lose that defensive edge whilst seeking goals – in Toure’s later years he began completely neglecting his defensive duties and only cared about scoring.
Rice is the best in the world, and is still getting better!
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 