UEFA has angrily rejected a proposal from A22 Sports Management for a revived European Super League saying “the whole of European football opposes their greedy plan.”
UEFA met with A22 Sports Management founders Anas Laghrari and John Hahn and new CEO Bernd Reichart in Nyon to discuss the proposal of a revived European Super League. A22 claims to be an independent body but both UEFA and the European Clubs' Association (ECA) believe that it is acting on behalf of Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona who are the only three teams yet to fully abandon a potential European Super League.
A UEFA statement said “In line with the unity of European football, UEFA and the participating football stakeholders once again unanimously rejected the rationale underpinning projects such as ESL during today's discussion. The participants took note, with surprise, the claims of A22 Sports CEO that this company is not representing any clubs in any capacity, including the three clubs who continue to openly support the project.”
A22 released a statement following the meeting saying “Our takeaway from the meeting was that the status quo is satisfactory to UEFA. This position was anticipated as UEFA has been the sole, dominant operator of European club competitions since 1955. This monopoly structure is currently being reviewed by the Court of Justice... which is expected to deliver its conclusions in Spring 2023.”
UEFA were not pleased with that statement released by A22 following the meeting so said in response “A22 Sports Management has published an account of their visit to UEFA Headquarters in Nyon today. UEFA is currently checking the recording to see if they are talking about the same meeting. The 'other executives' they refer to were not faceless bureaucrats but senior stakeholders from across European football, players, clubs, leagues and fans; people who live and breathe the game every day. To fail to recognise that is disrespectful. If there is a 'takeaway' from today, it should be that the whole of European football opposes their greedy plan. A22 wanted dialogue so we gave them 2.5 hours of time from all of the game's stakeholders and each one rejected their approach. They claim not to represent the three remaining clubs. They refuse to define what their alleged new approach is. They claim to want dialogue. But when presented with the chance, they have nothing to say.”
