Unified front
Premier League clubs keen on new European Super League with bosses ‘confident Uefa will accept Unify League plans’
The key features of the league and its expected prize pot have been revealed
A NUMBER of Premier League clubs have privately signalled their support in taking part in the new European Super League.
Promoter of the new league, A22 Sports, unveiled plans for a radical revamped format named the "Unify League" on Tuesday.
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The Madrid-based firm, backed by Real Madrid chairman Florentino Perez, said it had written to Fifa and Uefa to ask for official endorsement for the league.
The previous attempt by the firm to form a breakaway league announced in April 2021 was met by huge fan backlash.
But the new refined league will see 96 teams spread across four divisions - Star, Gold, Blue and Union - and crucially include promotion and relegation, meaning inclusion will be based on merit.
As many as TEN Premier League teams will be offered the chance to take part in the new competition.
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Participation in the league would NOT affect membership of the Premier League, but the tournament would effectively spell the end of the Champions League.
SunSport understands a significant number of Prem clubs have privately said they would be willing to take part in the new league.
A22 bosses believe Uefa must endorse its latest proposal following a December 2023 European Court of Justice ruling that previous tactics used to block a Super League were contrary to EU law.
And the league's bosses are confident the latest iteration of their "Super League" will receive authorisation from Uefa, according to .
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BOWING TO FAT CATS
By Will Barker, Sun newsman and Villa fan
JUST when you thought the greedy clubs had learnt their lesson from the last Super League chaos, here comes another crazy idea.
And this time, the EU has laid out the red carpet for fat cat clubs to sponge even more money off fans.
My team, Villa, have been battling since the very start of the Champions League to hear the famous anthem played at Villa Park.
Previous memories of 1982 when we won the European Cup are all faded now.
But now we have been able to experience first hand what a great competition it is rather than jealously watch our Premier League rivals from afar.
Incredibly, Villa have had a great run in the tournament so far — even beating giants Bayern Munich, which led to some of the wildest celebrations in the Midlands I’ve seen for years.
Football is about the fans.
It isn’t about the rich owners and it certainly isn’t about the politicians in Brussels, who need to get their hands off our great game.
The report adds that Uefa is unlikely to respond in haste and that authorising the league, in essence calling A22's bluff, will be an option under consideration.
The prize fund for the tournament is yet to be confirmed, but A22 has promised £330million in "solidarity" payments for smaller clubs and countries.
Unify League explained after European Super League launches again in new format
The total pot is expected to exceed the current £2billion Uefa fund for the Champions League and the £700m for the Europa and Conference Leagues combined.
Measures to block clubs from joining any breakaway competition are included in the Government’s Independent Football Regulator, currently going through Parliament and backed by all major parties.
But the new competition seeks to supplant Uefa and be club-run — as happened when the Premier League was set up more than 30 years ago.
Plenty to like... but will fans back it?
By Martin Lipton, Chief Sports Reporter
THE biggest issue with the first version of Super League was that it was utterly unfair.
Football has always been about what you earn on the field — and offering the Prem’s Big Six a place in a breakaway elite for life would have destroyed the fabric of the game.
So while many fans reacted in anger at the latest proposals unveiled by Madrid-based A22, its new plans do tick more boxes.
Qualification by merit, rather than on the basis of what a club did ten, 15 or 20 years ago is a step in the right direction.
As are extra “big” games, playing all teams in a mini-league, home and away — it’s hard to keep tabs on a Champions League table of 36 clubs.
Then an end-of-season knock-out with real tension, especially with a final four-style week of one-off semis and the final.
But it seems unlikely that a new streaming platform, offering both ad-supported “free” games and a bells-and-whistles subscription service, can really earn the billions required to run four competitions every season.
The potential autumn 2026 launch means huge obstacles will have to be cleared quickly — and that includes winning over the fans whose determination torpedoed Super League version one in 48 hours in 2021.
In the end, it will come down to the clubs.
If they feel their bread is being buttered the way they like it, then it could be on — and if that means jettisoning the Carabao Cup, so be it.
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