What is the Super League? European club breakaway tournament format & teams explained

The football world was rocked when the announcement of a breakaway Super League featuring Europe’s most elite clubs were confirmed in April 2021, with the move set to change football as we know it forever.

Reports of such a league forming have been circulating for years, taking on greater emphasis when Der Spiegel released leaked plans for it in 2018, and with the tournament potentially beginning as early as next August, the football landscape is set to change permanently.

But what is the Super League, which European teams will be involved, and how will it affect the Champions League? Goal has the full guide.

Contents

1. What is the Super League & which clubs are involved?
2. When will the Super League be introduced?
3. What is the Super League format?
4. How will this impact the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A?
5. What has the response to the European Super League been?
6. Could UEFA really ban players from international tournaments?
7. What is the lure of the Super League?
8. What will happen to the Champions League?

What is the Super League & which clubs are involved?

The European Super League is a new competition involving 20 clubs – with 15 permanent ones, called the “founding clubs” – and five guest teams who will be selected for involvement each season based on the results of their previous domestic seasons.

There are 12 founding clubs: six from the Premier League (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham); three from La Liga (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid); and three from Serie A (Inter, Juventus, AC Milan). 

In the Super League official statement, however, they detailed that three other clubs are set to be included in the group of the founders. The clubs will be announced in due course.

It is believed that Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern and Borussia Dortmund have been approached, though Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have already rejected the invitation to join.

The 15 permanent clubs would be immune to relegation and therefore guaranteed spots in the Super League permanently.

The European Super League press release read: “The formation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model.

“Further, for a number of years, the Founding Clubs have had the objective of improving the quality and intensity of existing European competitions throughout each season, and of creating a format for top clubs and players to compete on a regular basis.

“By bringing together the best clubs and best players in the world, the Super League will deliver excitement and drama never before seen in football.”

When will the European Super League be introduced?

The Super League press statement said that it plans on introducing the competition “as soon as practicable”. 

This would suggest that the competition could have its inaugural season begin as early as this August, though negotiations surrounding the tournament are still ongoing.

What is the European Super League format?

The European Super League is similar to the Champions League in that it is a knockout tournament featuring Europe’s most elite clubs.

The competition is set to involve two groups of 10 teams competing in home and away matches played in mid-week. At the end of the first round, the first three who finish in each group will automatically qualify for the quarter-finals.

The fourth and fifth-placed teams will then face each other in a play-off match for the two remaining places in the quarter-finals.

Quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played on a home-and-away basis, with the final being played as a single-leg fixture at neutral stadium in May.

The clubs who make up the 15 permanent clubs, however, will be immune to elimination from the competition, even if their performances are consistently poor.

How will this impact the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A?

At this point, the Super League has stated that its fixtures will take place in mid-week, the slot traditionally saved for European fixtures as domestic games are played at the weekend.

The vision is that the Super League will be played concurrently with the domestic competitions like the Premier League – as the Champions League has been played – but there are concerns that the top clubs will have virtually less motive to do well in their respective leagues due to the permanency of their participation in the Super League.

The nature of the domestic leagues is to breed competition for a Champions League spot, but with the Super League, that becomes irrelevant.

The founding clubs would be guaranteed – in a manner yet to be defined – the certainty of taking part in the richest (and arguably most prestigious) competition, regardless of the results obtained on the field in their domestic leagues. This, then, would inevitably be opposed by the other clubs.

What has the response to the Super League been?

The European Super League has been heavily criticised by prominent football figures and supporters alike, with Gary Neville leading the fans’ sentiment with his opposition to the tournament – calling it “pure greed” and even suggesting that sides who have signed the proposals should be punished with a points deduction.

Fans from the participating clubs have led protests against the implementation of the Super League, accusing clubs of only caring about the financial rewards and not considering the fans.

Chelsea fans will be protesting the Super League plans in person at the stadium and pulling signs made by them from the stadium. I’ve seen Liverpool supporters are doing the same. #CFC https://t.co/99beFKKqLh

— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) April 19, 2021

“I’m not against the modernisation of football competition, but to bring forward proposals in the wake of Covid is an absolute scandal. United and the rest of the big six clubs that have signed up to it should be ashamed of themselves, Neville told Sky Sports.

“It’s been damned and rightly so. I’m a Man Utd fan and have been for 40 years. I’m disgusted with Manchester United and Liverpool most.

“Liverpool, they pretend ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, the people’s club, the fans’ club. Man Utd, 100 years born out of workers around here and they’re breaking away into a league without competition, that they can’t be relegated from.

“It’s pure greed. They’re imposters. They’re nothing to do with football in this country. There’s 100 years of history in this country from fans that have lived and loved these clubs, and they need protecting.

“Deduct them all points tomorrow, put them at the bottom of the league and take their money off them. Seriously, you’ve got to stamp on this. It’s criminal. It’s a criminal act against football fans in this country, make no mistake about it. This is the biggest sport in the world, it’s the biggest sport in this country and it’s a criminal act, as simple as that.”

UEFA have also heavily opposed the tournament, with president Alexander Ceferin vowing to punish Super League participants and threatening to ban individual players from the World Cup and Euros.

“We are all united against this nonsense of a project. Cynical plan, completely against what football should be. We cannot and will not allow that to change,” said Ceferin.

“Players who will play in the teams that might play in the closed league will be banned from the World Cup and Euros. We urge everyone to stand tall with us as we do everything in our power to ensure this never ends up in fruition.”

Participating clubs would also need the green-light approval of the associations who govern the domestic competitions to allow them to join the breakaway tournament.

The Premier League have also condemned the plans, with Premier League chief executive Richard Masters stating in a memo to all 20 clubs: “I cannot envisage any scenario where such permission would be granted.”

Could UEFA really ban Super League players from international tournaments?

An official UEFA statement read: “We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.

“As previously announced by FIFA and the six Confederations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams.”

What is the lure of the Super League?

Participants of the Super League will be granted lucrative and significant financial rewards if they were allowed to play with the most superior clubs in the world on a more regular basis – more so than the Champions League.

Through breaking off of their national competitions and forming a league where only the most elite players were to partake, the Super League could possibly compete with the NFL and NBA and benefit from huge television rights deals.

What will happen to the Champions League?

The Super League would effectively doom the Champions League, as the UEFA’s premier club competition will be forced to be without their biggest sides should the breakaway tournament formally begin.

It could severely diminish the appeal and romance of the Champions League, which has always been the most prestigious European domestic club competition.

When asked if the Champions League would still exist even without the big 12 clubs, however, Ceferin stated: “The answer is yes, of course.

“In Europe, there are many good clubs, many devoted fans and we already approved the changes for European club competitions post 2024. We will do it with or without them.”