The Super League Is Here (And You Like It)
In 2021, the European Super League experiment seemed short-lived. In mere weeks fan protests and outraged forced the breakaway clubs to return to UEFA hat in hand. They paid their fines to retain their status in the existing competitions. But as the revamped Champions League approaches, it is evident that the big clubs who tried to break with UEFA got much of what they wanted, and fans are excited about it.
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The New Champions League Format
This is the first season in which the Group Stage of the Champions League is replaced by what is termed the Swiss System. Instead of facing three teams home and away, each Champions League Club will play eight teams one time each, with four matches at home and four away.
These additional matches, and the new “preliminary knockout round” before the Round of 16, present additional revenue opportunities, both on match day and when the TV rights are next negotiated. Who the big clubs will play is the biggest win for their owners. Gone are the days of Liverpool playing Genk, Maribor, or LASK for a third of their group stage games. Instead, Dutch giant PSV Eindhoven might be the smallest club Liverpool play in the League Stage.
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If this season is any indication, The United Arab Emirates Department of Sportswashing Manchester City will no longer bribe their way to be gifted Champions League groups such as Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb, and Atalanta (2019-2020) or Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys, and RB Leipzig. Instead, City will actually be tested this year against the likes of Inter, Juventus, and PSG.
Names In Lights
More marquee matchups were a major stated goal of the European Super League (and ranking the teams 1 to 36 to see who advances reduces jeopardy for the Big Clubs, which is always the other half of the equation for billionaire owners). They are revenue generators. But it isn’t just the owners who are happy. On the podcasts and fan pages (hardly a scientifically accurate survey I know) I follow, Liverpool fans are excited about the matchups.
And why not? Maribor or AC Milan? Young Boys or PSG? One option is clearly more exciting than the other. The Swiss System Champions League has major differences from the proposed European Super League. But it was adopted after the short-lived breakaway and includes many elements of the rogue billionaires wanted. So in a way, the Super League is here. Based on the early reaction to the revamped European fixtures, you like it.
