The European Super League unleashed acontroversial episode in the soccer world as fans and players firmly stood against the twelve clubs that encouraged the creation of a self-governed tournament. Only 48 hours after theannouncement of the new competition, some of those teams started to step down amid strong disagreement and harshreactions.
Even before the confirmation of the league,UEFA and FIFA expressed their complete opposition to it and many important leagues joined these two governing bodies in their stance. UEFA president Alexander Ceferin firmly stated that Super League clubs would be forbidden from playing inlocal tournaments and their players wouldn’t be allowed to represent their national teamseither.
Following those warnings and in the middle of severe resistance from fans whoprotestedoutside the stadiums, the plans started to tremble and the Premier League sides were the first ones to withdraw. Atlético de Madrid, Inter, and Milan followed them, weakening the project as only three teams remain attached to it. The 12 clubs, however, would be punished for their intention.
Super League teams to face sanctions
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Alexander Ceferin addressed many topics regarding the huge controversy that the Super League inception has created. Most importantly, he revealed that every club involved with the idea of theautonomous tournament will face consequences.
The UEFA chairman made a difference, though, between teams, as the English ones were the first to back down giving a hugesetback to the Super League, who lost strength with their departure.Ceferin thanked the Big Six for that, but confirmed that they wouldn’t be clearedof sanctions:
“Everyone has to take consequences and we can’t pretend nothing happened. They don’t have problems for anyone else but themselves. It’s not OK what they did and we’ll see in the next days what we have to do,” he said.
Still, he acknowledged that the Premier League clubs played an important part in the ESL failure as well, which is why they would be facing different punishments to that of the other clubs: “They pulled out first, theyadmitted they made a mistake. You have to have some greatness to say: ‘I was wrong.’ For me there are three groups of this12 – the English Six, who went out first, then the other three (Atlético Madrid, Milan, and Inter) and then the ones who feel the Earth is flat andthink the Super League still exists. And there is a big difference between those. But everyone will be held responsible,” Ceferin added.
Moreover, he was thankful for the huge opposition from fans that made it possible that their teams considered backing away and recognized that they deservemore space toexpress their opinions. The Super League didn’t last long, and even though Ceferin didn’t mention how the clubs would be sanctioned, he made clear that the ones who insist on the project will face tougher consequences than the rest.