Twelve of the biggest clubs in Europe, including mega clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid are planning to form a new league called the European Super League, a move that could potentially wreak havoc on the traditional structures of European soccer. The European Super League plans to restrict the game to a select few elite clubs and aims to rake immense profits to those elite few, leaving the poor clubs in the dust. Sports has always been from the masses but yet again seems to be stripped off its credentials and cornered by a few privileged people seeking to further their own interests. By using the Pandemic and falling revenues as an excuse, the new league monopolizes the resources that the sports garners, leaving smaller clubs to fend for themselves. This proposal is the antithesis of what Sports and Football stands for; to bring people together and not to have corporate backdoor dealings to further their hegemony of the market. By going ahead with it, the club managers have pitted themselves against the masses and once again shown us the class divide that exists; allowing the bourgeoisie to own and profit off of sports while commoditizing it and leaving fans behind in the name of corporate greed. It also goes against the most important ethos of football - The Sporting Merit, which says that a team, no matter how small, can earn it's right to play in the biggest tournaments if they have strong performances and no matter how big a club is, if it has a poor season, it won't get an entry into a competition. The football pyramid globally is based on this principle, which will cease to exist if the new league goes ahead as planned.
We must acknowledge the role of sports in the movement of the people's emancipation from the advances of Capitalism. Hence this move must be opposed and the Super League should be boycotted, separating the greed from the game and reclaiming the sports for the people and not for the interests of a privileged few.