European Super League: What is it? Who is involved? And when will it start?

What is the European Super League?

The European Super League is a proposed new football competition which some of the continent’s biggest clubs hope will rival the Uefa Champions League.

Twelve clubs - six from England, three from Spain and three from Italy - announced they were to be the founding clubs on Sunday April 18.

They hope to be involved in the competition while still featuring in their domestic league competitions.

Which clubs are involved in the European Super League?

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were the six Premier League clubs who outlined their intention to join the competition, although Chelsea and City on Tuesday night were on the verge of withdrawing from the proposed competition, less than 48 hours after news of the competition first emerged.

Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus from Serie A and Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid from La Liga are the other members of the original 12 clubs.

Organisers hope three other founding clubs will also be involved but Bundesliga teams Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig have rejected the idea.

When will the European Super League start?

Organisers hope the competition will start ‘as soon as practicable’ and it is anticipated to run from August to May, similar to the Champions League.

However, there has been no firm announcement about when the competition will start.

How will the European Super League work?

It is hoped 15 founding teams will be joined each season by five other clubs who will qualify to be involved, although how that will happen remains unclear.

The 20 clubs will be divided into two groups of ten and will play each other home and away.

Eight teams will then go through to a two-legged knockout tournament to decide the winner.

The top three in each section will qualify for the quarter-finals while the teams who finish fourth and fifth will face off for the final two places.

The final will be a one-off fixture played at a neutral venue.

What has the reaction been?

Commentators, journalists and supporters have been generally outraged by the proposals, especially with the fact 15 of the 20 competitors will not have to qualify to be in the tournament on an annual basis.

Organisers suggest that reform is necessary due to the financial effects football has suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Uefa and Fifa have warned that players who take part in the new competition may not be able to play international football, including World Cups and European Championships.

Many parallels have been drawn with sports run by the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, which do not have promotion and relegation, particularly as Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United are under American ownership.

Critics have also noted that teams such as Tottenham, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid have never won the Champions League and some failed to qualify for this season’s competition.

Three of the six Premier League clubs - Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool - are currently outside the top four that would ensure qualification to next season’s Champions League.

But the main criticism is that the whole situation is driven by greed and the formation of the new competition will only serve to widen the gap between the wealthiest clubs and the rest for whom some will find their very existence under threat.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also said that 'no action is off the table' as he aims to stop the breakaway from happening.

Click here to read Bruce Millington's thoughts on the announcement of the European Super League

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