Commercialization, Governance Problems, and the Future of European Football—Or Why the European Super League Is Not a Solution to the Challenges Facing Football

Abstract

Recently, 12 European football clubs launched the idea of creating the European Super League. After massive protests from fans, the Union of European Football Associations, politicians, coaches, and players, the initiative was stopped. In this commentary, the authors reflect on some of the problems facing football and argue that the creation of a European Super League is not a solution to the challenges. However, European football does face problems that require actions, and thus the authors provide some suggestions to progress.

The geopolitics of the European super league: A historiographical approach and a media analysis of the failed project in 2021

“…The dynamics of British politics might also have been one of the factors that hindered the latest Super League project. We might consider whether the opposition to the European Super League was exploited by the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson in two areas: in the field of domestic politics to strengthen voter loyalty; and in international politics in order to retain the Premier League as one of the most important assets for its sports diplomacy ( 92 – 95 ).…”

“…The Premier League is not only the football competition with the most value for the television market ( 2 , p. 117), but is also a symbol that combines tradition and the reinforcement of the “sense of place” of its participants, with the necessary commodification of the sport inherent in the process of globalisation. Boris Johnson highlighted that football was “one of the great glories of this country's cultural heritage” ( 100 ), and he used a Covid-19 press conference to condemn the idea that clubs could be “dislocated from their home cities, taken and turned into international brands and commodities that just circulate the planet, propelled by the billions of banks, without any reference to the fans and those who have loved them all their lives” ( 100 ).…”

Demand for TV Broadcasts of UEFA Champions League Games in Danish Television – The Impact of Uncertainty of Outcome, Stardom, and Local Heroes

“…Our results yield important insights for the controversy on the adequate design of premier-level European football as expressed, for instance, in the fight between UEFA/CL and A22/ESL over the "right" direction. While we do not address the overall discussion on this battle (see, inter alia, Wagner et al 2021;Brannagan et al, 2022;Budzinski & Feddersen, 2022) around. This is presumably also driven by the fact that Danish teams are without many chances to win the competition.…”

“…The year 2021 witnessed the outbreak of a fight about the right way of organizing the highest level of European football 4 : while the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA, representing the national football associations) presented their model of a reformed UEFA Champions League (UEFA, 2021), a company called A22 (representing a number of high-profile European football clubs 5 ) presented an alternative model of a so-called Super League (Solberg & Gratton, 2004;Wagner et al, 2021). The battle between the two entities covers a number of fields including, inter alia, (ongoing) law proceedings, public controversy, media campaigns, as well as political intervention.…”

“…The battle between the two entities covers a number of fields including, inter alia, (ongoing) law proceedings, public controversy, media campaigns, as well as political intervention. Much of the debate centers around the question which body is -formally, legally, economically, morally -entitled to organize European's highest level of football competition (Wagner et al, 2021;Budzinski & Feddersen, 2022). However, there are also conceptual divides between the proposed models and here much of the discussion focuses on what the fans actually want.…”