Bernd Reichart, the new CEO of A22 Sports Management, the company behind the Super League, insists that many European clubs share the same vision as Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid: ‘the project is still alive.’
Reichart was officially appointed on Tuesday and both Juventus and Barcelona retweeted his first public message to European clubs where he calls for a reform of European football, which, among other things, is described as economically unsustainable.
The Super League “is still alive, I can say with certainty that many clubs in Europe share the same vision as Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid and now have the chance to make their voice heard,” Reichart told El Larguero.
“It’s a long path, but we want to go through it step by step, without interruptions. Today [yesterday] was an important day because we invited European football to a dialogue.”
Juventus, Barça and Madrid were among the 12 elite European clubs that launched the Super League in March 2021. However, the project collapsed within 48 hours after the five Premier League clubs involved in the competition withdrew.
“To some extent, we made more steps forward in the last 12 hours than in the last 18 months,” continued Reichart.
“We reached out to the whole football family, beyond UEFA. They agree that European football needs reform because it can’t carry on like this.
“It was UEFA with its threats, sanctions and expulsions that brought the matter to courts.”
Does he have a format in mind for the supposed Super League?
“We want to create a system that allows clubs to grow through sporting merit. An open system with the possibility to dream and do things well, with sporting merit, you can aspire to everything. It’s not a closed competition but based on meritocracy.”
One of the issues of the project launched in April last year was that 15 clubs would have had guaranteed access with five more invited every season.
However, this seems to have changed and Reichart has a new project in mind.
“A guaranteed entry is not something we are currently contemplating. The design of the format, however, must be the fruit of dialogue. To date, we do not have a definitive format. I only say that sporting merit will be applied to all participants in the Super League.
“We don’t want to affect domestic leagues, so we are talking of a competition played midweek.
“There’s no deadline when we’ll know more once we have certainties from the courts, but it’s hard to imagine a start before 2024-25.”
The Champions League will have a new format in 2024, but Super League clubs believe it’s not the right one to relaunch European football.
“It goes in the wrong direction because there will be more group-stage games. Some clubs won’t face each other but will be in the same ranking. It will be tough t follow it passionately until the knock-out phase begins in March.
“It’s crucial to make young generations watch live games with more appeal, a match between Real Madrid and Barcelona played four times a year will generate more interest and make football expand. We want to listen to everyone; I want to know what European fans think.”
A Euro league might work well, and will probably happen eventually, but it’d have to be far better thought-out and competitive than the ridiculous proposal those clueless business men put out the last time.
An esl with a new format than the one in last april will be better for football fans….We are anticipating it