The Super League’s new marketers wanted a meeting with UEFA – and were rebuffed across the board by many parts of European football.
Former RTL boss Bernd Reichart, who represents the Super League with the marketing agency A22 in the second attempt to found it, published a video of himself from Switzerland before the meeting in Nyon. “We will have a face-to-face meeting with UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin”said Reichart, “I look forward to it.” In Nyon, however, a surprise awaited him and his two companions from A22.
Super League representatives greeted by celebrities
Because at the UEFA headquarters, Ceferin did not receive him alone, but with the assembled celebrities of European football politics. The European league association with the Spanish league boss Javier Tebas, the club lobby ECA with boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi and numerous other board members, representatives of the international players’ union FIFPRO and international fan associations made the guest from the Super League in a meeting lasting more than two hours clear that the Super League is not wanted in this area.
“UEFA has given A22 the opportunity to approach all representations of European football”, UEFA wrote in a statement. Everyone would have told the guest from the Super League “that the resistance to the self-proclaimed Super League is still as great today as it has been since April 2021.” You will be involved in the development of European football “all recognized stakeholders” take into account, which does not mean agency A22. It was a clear demonstration of power by UEFA, for the A22 representatives almost an ambush.
Important people also came from Germany: DFL Managing Director Donata Hopfen, DFL Supervisory Board Chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke from Borussia Dortmund, Oliver Kahn and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge from Bayern Munich as part of the ECA Board.
Rummenigge: “You lost the game forever”
A participant in the meeting described the course of the meeting in an interview with the sports show. “They were expecting something, they’re not stupid. But they were obviously surprised by the presence of so many important people from football.”he said: “And they didn’t have anything to say. We were asked several times what it was all supposed to look like – they basically didn’t say anything. At some point someone asked why we were actually meeting if nothing was to be introduced.”
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge on the Super League: “You lost.”
Rummenigge, who is still part of the ECA as an honorary member, took the floor and said: “In football you have to know when you’ve lost a game. And they lost it forever.” The A22 representatives around Reichart also stated that they would not speak for the three remaining Super League clubs Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin, which raised the question in the hall as to who they would speak for at all.
War of words even after the session
A22 boss Reichart said after the meeting: “We took away from the meeting that the status quo is satisfactory for UEFA. This position was expected.” At the meeting would have in addition UEFA President Ceferin “a large group of other executives” took part.
UEFA promptly responded with a further statement, writing: “UEFA is currently reviewing the recording to see if A22 are talking about the same meeting.” the “other executives”to which A22 refers “no faceless bureaucrats”but people from high-level interest groups: “Not recognizing that is disrespectful.” In the statement on the missing details, UEFA summarized: “They say they want dialogue. But when they got the chance, they had nothing to say.”
Reichart advertises with “revised format”
Bernd Reichart has been trying to convince the Super League in numerous interviews for some time. In conversation with Deutschlandfunk At the end of October, he pointed out that a revised format should include promotion and relegation and was not a closed model.
Represents the Super League: A22 boss Bernd Reichart
He criticized that the reform of the Champions League only inflates the competition instead of improving it. The finances in European football are poorly controlled and poorly monitored, and interest among young people is also waning. So far, he has hardly or not given any suggestions for solving the problems mentioned and, above all, more specific information on the format.
A Super League is also likely for the Bundesliga and other national leagues “with ascent and descent” be unacceptable. The leagues would no longer be the sole ticket to the European Cup, which would mean a significant sporting and thus also financial devaluation.
Question of the Super League concerns the European Court of Justice
The first Super League was founded on April 18, 2021 and canceled within 48 hours. Of the founding members Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Juventus Turin, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool FC, Chelsea FC, Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur, only three remained in the end with Real, Barcelona and Juventus .
To date, these three clubs have not renounced the format and are currently taking legal action to enable a new attempt at a Super League. The 17th commercial court in Madrid has submitted the question to the European Court of Justice for Sport as to whether UEFA, as the organizer of the competitions, is acting in violation of antitrust law. There should be an initial assessment on December 15, and a decision is not expected until 2023.
So it is clear that the rebuff at UEFA does not mean the end of the Super League. And Reichart said meaningfully: “We are encouraged that we have already been contacted and in discussions with numerous clubs to develop a sustainable foundation for European club football.”