By Paul Nicholson
April 1 – LaLiga president Javier Tebas has hammered the plans of UEFA and the European Club Association to create what he calls a “SuperChampions League” that he says would only widen the divide between Europe’s rich and poor clubs and threaten the sustainability of national leagues.
In an article titled ‘The catastrophic lie of UEFA and ECA’, Tebas accuses the two bodies of failing to take “into consideration the domestic leagues, who, as competition organisers, defend the collective interests of all professional clubs. These collective interests do not always coincide with the interests of individual clubs…
“UEFA and ECA want to divide the rich from the poor since solely 32 clubs will get the tickets to play in the money making competition,” he continued.
Tebas says UEFA is caving in to pressure from the big clubs, saying they “ have put great pressure on UEFA to reform the UCL so as to distribute even more money to a small group of already super rich clubs.
“ECA and UEFA are talking about new formats, a new calendar and match dates, to play on weekends while envisaging new revenue figures. They are doing so without considering the real effect over their own business and moreover, the overall development of football. The speculations about figures are absolutely crazy. We heard about €900M to be distributed to each participating club of this envisaged SuperChampions. This is simply crazy and stupid.”
Tebas is critical of the ECA which he says is only working in the interests of a few, with no real debate and a dominance over the decision making by the top 12 clubs. “The rest of the clubs have to accept the consequences without any possibility of expressing their voices.”
“The ECA and UEFA are selling the idea to clubs, federations and the public, that their position is shared and backed by all clubs. But this is a big lie.”
Citing the leagues as the centre of the football industry in each of their countries and “the real developer of football from a sporting and economic point of view”, he makes the point that it is the leagues who generate the bulk of football income and employment and not the big clubs. “There are hundreds of clubs and thousands of players across Europe. The leagues generate employment with important social and fiscal benefits for their respective countries. The leagues move annually the Media, TV, Hotel and retail businesses and much more. In Spain we estimate that this represents 1,37% of the GDP,” said Tebas.
UEFA has said that it will include the European Leagues in a consultation process but Tebas say that this is not enough and that the leagues “cannot accept that ECA and UEFA are taking important decisions which could negatively impact their competition and their sustainability. If we do not sit, negotiate and find an agreement with UEFA, the leagues will never support this reform. As result, this reform will not become a reality.”
Interestingly Tebas has changed his tune over FIFA’s Club World Cup which he says “will generate solidarity for the clubs and attract the interest of fans, no matter its economic dimension. It will be played every 4 years. It will generate and distribute solidarity and it will respect the calendars of the national leagues.” That may be wishful thinking on Tebas’ part as the Club World Cup as a competition and commercial entity is a non-starter without the top 12 European teams, once again leaving those teams as the powerbroker between UEFA and FIFA competition ambitions.
Tebas concludes his article with another attack on what he calls the ‘state-owned’ clubs – notably Qatar-owned PSG and UAE-owned Manchester City. UEFA recently lost an appeal at CAS to reinvestigate PSG over financial fair play rules – an appeal he suggests UEFA lost deliberately.
“Some powerful clubs are blinded by their own richness. They don’t see that the real threat comes from the so-called “state-owned” clubs which are generating an enormous inflation of salaries with the complicity of UEFA. Several jurists are currently saying that UEFA is “playing to lose” the CAS case with PSG. Can anyone believe that UEFA would miss a deadline? We’re too old for that,” he said.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1714184342labto1714184342ofdlr1714184342owedi1714184342sni@n1714184342osloh1714184342cin.l1714184342uap1714184342