The idea of a European Super League reared its ugly (inevitable) head yet again earlier this week, with the expected negative reaction to it, but one way or another, a seismic shift appears to be heading our way in the way the professional game is set up and administered. What form that change will take, and whether it will only affect England or Europe or perhaps beyond is the only question.
The new super league was said to have FIFA’s backing (versus UEFA’s), but when asked about such things, FIFA president Gianni Infantino (who was once the Secretary General of UEFA) chose to play down the idea of FIFA meddling with things that affect only Europe. Their remit is to grow the global game, after all.
“As FIFA president, I’m interested in the Club World Cup, not the Super League. For me, it’s not about Bayern Munich against Liverpool, but Bayern against Boca Juniors.
“Liverpool have 180 million fans worldwide. Flamengo have 40 million fans and 39 million of them are in Brazil. Liverpool have maybe five million fans in England and 175 million fans around the world.
“I want clubs from outside Europe to have global appeal in the future. That’s my vision: to have 50 clubs and 50 national teams who can become world champions.”
-Gianni Infantino; source: Mirror
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily rule out FIFA giving their backing to a brand new European competition that would try to attract the best teams on the continent to switch allegiance from the Champions League to the Super League, especially if said Super League would then be willing to play along with FIFA’s Club World Cup nonsense better than UEFA have ever have.
It’s all about who’s got the power, and FIFA certainly wouldn’t mind getting a slice of the pie at UEFA’s expense.