PSG-Juventus isn’t only the opening game in the Champions League Group H, but also a meeting between the opposing factions in the Super League.
Andrea Agnelli and Nasser Al-Khelaifi will meet for the classic ‘institutional lunch’ organised by UEFA today, hours before the kick-off at the Parc des Princes at 20.00 UK time. The PSG owner replaced Agnelli as the chairman of ECA, which Juventus left in April 2021 after launching the Super League along with 11 other elite European clubs.
PSG and Bayern Munich were among the European giants who refused to take part in the project which was abandoned within 48 hours following the withdrawal of Premier League clubs.
Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid remain the only teams still formally involved in the competition and it would be interesting to know whether Agnelli and Al-Khelaifi will discuss the issue during today’s meeting in Paris.
As highlighted by La Gazzetta dello Sport, the two club presidents also worked closely together for a few years. In January 2019, the ECA members named El-Khelaifi for the first time as the representative of European clubs in the UEFA Executive Committee.
“Along with President Agnelli, we will continue to develop European football in the interest of every stakeholder,” the PSG owner said at that time.
So, what went wrong? The announcement of the Super League in April 2021 is only the peak of the iceberg.
Agnelli had been working on creating a ‘Super Champions League’ with UEFA President Alexander Ceferin, a project based on three divisions with promotions and relegations which should have started in 2024.
The project reportedly collapsed due to the unfavourable opinion of most European leagues and a step back from Ceferin. Therefore, being unable to change the system from the inside, Agnelli tried to build a new format along with Real Madrid, Barcelona and other top European clubs, including Inter and Milan.
With the Super League announcement in April 2021, the point of no return was reached and Al-Khelaifi has often criticised the Super League and their architects since.
“Football is a sport for everyone. Any proposal that does not have the support of UEFA does not solve the current problems but is driven by personal interests,” he said after the announcement of the breakaway competition a year and a half ago.
Al-Khelaifi is not only the President of PSG but also the man in charge of beIN Sports who has acquired the Champions League TV rights becoming the ‘biggest broadcaster investor within UEFA’ raising legitimate concern over a potential conflict of interest.
According to Gazzetta, the two club presidents are no longer on good terms and hardly talk to each other. They’ll have to do so shortly, before the meeting between their two teams on the pitch.