Following Thursday’s ruling by the European Court of Justice, A22 Sports Management, the company supporting the creation of the European Super League, unveiled their new plan for the breakaway league.
The CJEU ruled that football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA had acted unlawfully after they threatened to impose sanctions on the 12 European clubs that had initially joined the Super League in 2021.
“Indeed, there is big news today,” Bernd Reichart, CEO AA Sports Management said. “And that news is that football is free.
“Free from the monopoly of UEFA, free to pursue the best ideas with the fear of sanctions, and under our proposal free viewing of all live matches.
“Let’s start with the [European Court of Justice] ruling. This morning the European Court of Justice ended UEFA’s near 70-year monopoly, by determining that FIFA and UEFA’s rules on prior approval of inter-club competitions are contrary to European Union law,” he added.
Our proposed new men’s ESL competition is a league structure based on a true pan-European pyramid: It will consist of 64 participating clubs in three tiers. Watch the video to learn more about the key elements. #BetterForFootball pic.twitter.com/yHfhVaPTFt
— A22 Sports (@A22Sports) December 21, 2023
The revised Super League format sees the competition split into three strata—Star, Gold, and Blue—with possible relegation and promotion available between each tier.
The Star and Gold tiers have 16 teams each, while the Blue tier will comprise 32 teams, with the top eight in each tier progressing to the knockout stages, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals at the end of the season.
The matches are proposed to be played midweek, giving room for the new European Super League to function together with the respective domestic leagues in Europe.
The teams in the Star and Gold Leagues will be divided into two groups of eight, while the Blue League teams will be divided into four groups of eight. Each team in the group will play 14 games, seven home and seven away.
A22 also announced that a women’s competition which would encompass 32 teams across two tiers will come into play.
