Romania Kistensamy

The forming of a new European Super League has once again sent the football world into speculation on how it would affect the landscape of football in Europe.

According to leaked plans we could see the formation of this league as soon as 2022. FIFA are proposing that the UEFA Champions League be replaced by the European Super League.

The new league will consist of 18 of Europe’s richest clubs competing in a round-robin competition and post league knockout tournament which is a similar concept to the NFL and NBA. According to Sky Sports, $6bn will be allocated for funding the creation of the league via JP Morgan of Wall Street.

The English Premier League is one of the most popular leagues amongst South African football enthusiasts. Liverpool and Manchester United both have a large support base in South Africa.

It is rumoured that six of the top English clubs are eager to join the European Super League, which includes Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspurs. It is unlikely that the “big six” clubs would be able to participate in both leagues. These clubs would have to play at least 70 games a season which is highly unlikely.

Karisa Pillay, a final year Chiropractic student at Durban University of Technology is a Manchester United supporter. She has mixed feelings about the proposed new league.

“It would bring in more revenue for the club, which will allow the club to purchase the best possible players. It will also allow fans to see Europe’s ‘giants’ of football clash weekly which would be exciting”, she said.

Pillay’s concerns were the loss of footballing traditions within England.

“The world’s oldest footballing competition is the FA cup. It is more then 140 years old. If this new league is established, we may see an end to the FA cup which would be sad”, she concluded.

Arsène Wenger, manager of Arsenal from 1996 to 2018 and is currently FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development does not like the idea of a European Super League and believes that it could eliminate the English Premier League all together.

“The Premier League has a superiority. The other leagues tried to destroy the advantage the Premier League has. For them, the best thing to attain that is to create a European League. So that means to destroy the Premier League, basically. So, if they get the agreement from the English big clubs, it will happen”, Wenger said.

Bayern Munich from Germany, Juventus from Italy and Paris Saint-Germain from France, Barcelona Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid from Spain are also believed to be among the clubs that will join the European Super League.

Picture: Gamesport