May 11 – Outgoing Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says the introduction of a European super league, resisted for years by football’s authorities, is “inevitable” and says Premier League matches will ultimately be moved to midweek.
Wenger takes charge of Arsenal for the last time in 22 years at Huddersfield on Sunday and is already opening up on the game’s most pressing issues more than he perhaps might have felt able to do in the past.
“In a few years you will certainly have a European league over the weekends,” said Wenger. “It is inevitable. Why? First of all, to share money between the big clubs and small clubs will become a problem. The big clubs will say, ‘if two smaller clubs are playing each other nobody wants to watch it. So we have to share the money but nobody is interested in you?’ People want to watch quality.”
In what was the last of his pre-match press conferences, Wenger based his views partly on growing divisions about sharing broadcast income equally.
“The Premier League has become a worldwide championship. The next evolution? You will certainly have a European league over the weekends. A domestic league will certainly play Tuesday and Wednesday. I think that is the next step we will see.”
“The money is never a problem, it’s the way you use it that is the problem. It has reduced the uncertainty of the game. In Europe overall you have big, big financial powers and in December you can say who will win the league. That is not good.”
“A European league will happen and it will be soon because it is a way for other clubs to fight against the Premier League. The Champions League doesn’t sell well any more. If you look at the audiences of the Champions League it is not fantastic. But if you have Real Madrid v Barcelona, or Real Madrid v Arsenal, or Manchester United v Bayern Munich every week the audiences will be good.”
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