President of the European Super League defends breakaway football

Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid pictured on February 18, 2020 in Madrid, Spain.

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LONDON – The president of the European Super League has said plans to form a new elite league are to ‘save’ football and pull back from widespread criticism by claiming that change is needed because young people ‘ no longer interested in the sport. .

In an interview with the Spanish television show El Chiringuito de Jugones on Monday, Florentino Perez, who is also the president of Spanish club Real Madrid, said: “Every time something changes, there are always people who are against it … and we are do this to save football at this critical moment. “

“The audience is diminishing, the rights are diminishing, and something had to be done. We are all ruined. The television must change so that we can adapt,” he continued.

“Young people are no longer interested in football. Why not? Since there are many poor quality games and they are not interested, they have other platforms on which to distract themselves,” Perez said.

Perez provided no evidence that younger football fans were turning away from the sport because of a lack of interest, nor because of the drop in television ratings.

His comments come shortly after it was announced that 12 of Europe’s richest football teams, including Real Madrid, had signed up as founders of the ESL. The project was backed with $ 6 billion in debt financing from JPMorgan.

The ESL is designed to rival the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s largest annual club competition, and is intended to start “as soon as practically possible”.

Teams that have agreed to play in the ESL:

  • England: Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal.
  • Spain: Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
  • Italy: Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan.

The ESL will eventually consist of 20 clubs and 15 of them will be permanent, meaning they cannot be relegated. That’s controversial as teams currently have to qualify for the Champions League every year and they can be promoted and relegated from the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga and the Italian Serie A.

The move has sparked outrage from lawmakers, governing bodies, former players, fans, managers and experts, with many concerned about the impact on the structure of domestic competition.

That’s because the current “pyramid scheme” allows teams to move up and down from their respective leagues based on merit. The 14 Premier League clubs not participating in the ESL are expected to discuss their response to the matter on Tuesday.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has condemned the ESL project, describing the movement as “a spit in the face” for all football fans. “We will not let them take it from us,” he added.

‘Core principles’

In 2018, the Premier League reported a significant drop in revenues from the sale of rights to broadcast football matches in the UK

BT and Sky offered £ 4.4 billion ($ 6.1 billion) to air the lion’s share of 200 games for each season between 2019 and 2022. That figure was below £ 5.1 billion in 2015.

In a joint statement on Sunday, the 12 teams that planned to join the ESL said: “The formation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has caused instability in the existing economic model of European football. accelerated.”

“The pandemic has shown that a strategic vision and a sustainable commercial approach are needed to increase value and support for the benefit of the entire European football pyramid,” they added.

Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino shoots under pressure from Real Madrid’s Eder Militao during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid at Anfield on April 14, 2021 in Liverpool, England.

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Organizers claim that the ESL will bring in more money than the UEFA Champions League competition and result in a greater distribution of revenue across the sport.

FIFA has sharply criticized the proposal and called for further discussions with those involved.

“In our opinion, and in accordance with our statutes, any football competition, whether national, regional or global, should always reflect the core principles of solidarity, inclusivity, integrity and fair financial distribution,” FIFA said Monday.

“In addition, football’s governing bodies must use all legal, sporting and diplomatic means to ensure that it remains that way,” she added.

– CNBCs Sam Shead contributed to this report.

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