![]() The following year, then UEFA president Lennart Johansson proposed, unsuccessfully, to merge the Champions League, the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup into a unique championship. UEFA also reformed the European Champions Cup introducing a group stage for the 1991-92 season, increasing the overall number of games, and rebranding the competition as the Champions League since 1992. The competition was supposed to run parallel to the then three European competitions from the 1991–92 season onwards, but the project was abandoned in 1991 after UEFA announced sporting sanctions sine die for the clubs involved. for "economic and management guarantees". In 1987, Milan, Real Madrid and Glasgow Rangers executives planned a league competition with a single round-robin format – dubbed a "Super League" by European mass media since the proposed format of the tournament was the same as that used in league championships, contrasted with the format of the European competitions, based on knockout phases since the mid 1950s – that would be more attractive for international television broadcasters, and would ostensibly allow the participating clubs to earn more income. The idea for a unique pan-European club competition was again discussed in the 1970s and gained legal traction at the end of the following decade. The proposal was never seriously entertained and, in the same year, UEFA approved to expand clubs' access to its competitions by creating a third seasonal tournament, the UEFA Cup, whose inaugural season took place three years later. ![]() In 1968, then UEFA general secretary Hans Bangerter proposed the creation of a new "super-league" competition for European clubs that would replace the European Champions Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup and form the "European Football League Championship", a unique club-competition combining group and knockout matches, a novelty at the time. Background Ĭlass=notpageimage| Map of the twelve founding clubs ![]() A manifesto for the proposed resurrection of the Super League was published in February 2023, stating that the league would be a multi-divisional competition with promotion and relegations based on merit, but this again led to discussions. UEFA met with A22 Sports Management to express their total disagreement with the Super League plan. Reichart claimed that the financial model of European football is unsustainable and that access to the new format would be open with permanent membership being off the table. The company appointed Bernd Reichart as CEO of A22. In October 2022, A22 Sports Management, a company formed to "sponsor and assistant" in the creation of the European Super League, announced it would be relaunching the competition. However, a final decision by the European Court of Justice is still pending. Courts have ruled that FIFA and UEFA must not interfere with the development of the ESL. In April 2021, the ESL announced that it was suspending its operations, and a legal dispute ensued. However, eight of these clubs remain involved in the project as stakeholders. ![]() The backlash against the announcement of the league's plans resulted in nine of the clubs that were supposed to participate, including all six English clubs, announcing their intention to withdraw. There were also concerns that the ESL would overshadow national leagues in Europe. This was because the league would consist of high-ranking teams from selected European countries who would be permanent contestants in a semi-closed league format, while there were some options for the promotion and relegation of teams inspired in European basketball's EuroLeague. Ĭritics of the league raised concerns about elitism and a lack of competitiveness within the ESL. The league also faced opposition from UEFA, FIFA, and some national governments. Fans, players, managers, politicians, and other football clubs in England, which had the most teams represented in the project with six teams, all voiced their concerns. The forthcoming European Super League announcement in April 2021 was met with widespread opposition from various groups. This company aimed to rival the UEFA competitions, such as the Champions League, which is currently Europe's top club tournament. The league was created by a commercial enterprise called the European Super League Company. Initially, the league was supposed to include 20 teams, with 12 of them being founding members of the competition. The European Super League ( ESL), officially The Super League, is a proposed seasonal football competition for club teams in Europe. Football tournament European Super League
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