Johannesburg – It was meant to be the greatest league in the history of European football, but the European Super League failed to take off.
Dear reader, I believe you are desperate to know why it failed.
The answer is simple. It was founded on principles of greed, selfishness and gluttony to make a quick buck in these hard financial times of Covid-19.
The conceptualisation of the rebel league – involving the Dirty Dozen – 12 top European clubs that include Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid, has been long coming.
It was just a matter of time before an official announcement was made.
However, the backlash following the unofficial announcement has been unprecedented.
The rebels did not see it coming.
The biggest clubs on the European continent quit the Champions League, then returned, humiliated and apologetic within a time span of less than 48 hours.
The fans had spoken.
The communities’ affinity to the clubs they have come to know since they were toddlers was being eroded, wiped away because of greed. Association football, as we have come to know it from the day the English founded the game of football and its rules, was under threat.
The rebels were gnawing at the very foundations that have, over the years, led to their existence.
The first mistake was for the rebels, including their club chairmen, to play their cards close to their chests as if they were running a closed corporation – eliciting negative sentiments and criticism all round, including from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
The main reason for the rebel league was because the clubs were not singing in tune with Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) on how it runs the Champions League, and did not think Uefa delivers enough money-spinning, high-quality games to meet the demands of the digital-media age. But the rebel clubs went about addressing their grievances against Uefa the wrong way, as they believed they could make more money from broadcast revenue than Uefa does, using their immense power through popularity and status.
The rebels know they are the backbone of their countries’ leagues by sheer spectator attraction value, sponsorship, honours and trophies won. Uefa bosses know the continental federation cannot function or exist without the Dirty Dozen.
Fifa boss Gianni Infantino has been critical of the concept, rejected also by German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, and France’s Paris St-Germain.
However, many are of the view it was the Fifa president who first mooted the idea of super leagues in all his continental federations. It is widely believed the concept was to be first implemented in Africa, with top clubs under the Confederation of African Football leading the pack as guinea pics, but the greedy Dirty Dozen jumped the gun after feeling time was running out and Fifa was not moving an inch.
The power of football fans brought every move to a screeching halt. Association football die-hards protested and denunciations gained momentum in a matter of hours. So don’t underestimate the people’s power.
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