When news of the proposed European Super League broke, it was met with fury from a lot of football fans, players and commentators alike. If you’re not a diehard soccer fan, you might be wondering what everyone’s going on about.
Basically the European Super League involves 15 foundation clubs, plus five more clubs that can qualify for the comp each year. But those foundation clubs – some of the richest in the world, including Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid Barcelona and AC Milan – can never be relegated from the competition, which is a big part of the English Premier League, offering smaller (poorer) clubs the chance to compete with the big guys.
The European Super League proposal has been described as a “greedy” slap in the face to fans, and potentially damaging to women’s football and the spirit of the game that allows grassroots clubs to produce absolute fairytale championship wins like Leicester City pulled off in 2016.
Here’s a quick rundown of the saga from The Guardian:
This isn’t the first time a class war has broken out in football. Netflix’s The English Game is a docu-drama on the fight to make the FA Cup a more even playing field in the 19th Century. Back then, it was against the rules to pay anyone to play for your club. Which sounds ok until you pit a working class team against a squad made entirely of aristocrats who have the money, time and equipment to win.
And if the whole football thing doesn’t win you over, there’s also a love story threaded through The English Game. Plus the show is by Julian Fellowes, the guy behind Downton Abbey and Gosford Park, so you know this is a VERY English drama.
Whether or not the European Super League goes ahead, only time will tell.
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