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2021 European soccer megathread


Jive Turkey

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  • 2 weeks later...

Didn't know which thread applies, so I figured I'd drop this here.

FIFA along with all six confederations may have fired the coup de grâce to any idea of a breakaway "Super League." An effective international ban on any player who plays for a club in said league, as they would be barred from the World Cup and confederation tournaments and their respective qualifiers (Euros, Copa América, etc). 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4294461/breakaway-super-league-players-would-be-banned-from-world-cup-fifa

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On 1/21/2021 at 1:39 PM, Pasken said:

Why?

It wasn't the plan to leave you hanging. Sorry about that.

Because I don't really have time to go into it, I'll just give you the slightly longer than the TL;DR version - the Super League being talked about right now was going to gut everything we really enjoy about European Soccer:

  • Champions League - would be morphed into a closed super league that only "big clubs" would get to play in and there would be no promotion into it or relegation from it
  • The Big top Leagues (England, France, German, Italy, Spain) across Europe would be gutted because their top clubs would leave for this super league
  • The Smaller Leagues (think every other country) would be left out of this league

You lose your final day promotion/relegation games. You lose the NCAA type upsets that happen in the Champions League now. Or top clubs falling to teams fighting to stay up (like Watford beating Liverpool last year). You lose a ton of traditional rivalries because you split up clubs. Even the whole concept of clubs doing what they can to improve and get more (promotion, top European cups, etc) would be lost.

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The French Leagues agree to a TV deal with Canal Plus

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/soccer/french-league-agrees-tv-deal-with-broadcaster-canal-plus/2021/02/04/7a8654e8-6718-11eb-bab8-707f8769d785_story.html

That's probably behind a paywall, so some of the highlights:
 

Quote

No financial details were given, but French reports said Canal Plus paid 200 million euros ($240 million) for the rest of the season.

The agreement will come as a considerable relief to French soccer clubs starved of ticket sales during the coronavirus, and without TV revenue after a huge deal with Spanish-based broadcaster Mediapro collapsed.

The deal, which should have been worth more than 4 billion euros ($4.8 billion) over four years for the top two leagues, capsized after just four months.

In December, the LFP was forced to terminate its accord with Mediapro, which created a new subscription channel called Telefoot to show matches but missed scheduled payments of 172 million euros ($209 million) and 152.5 million euros ($185 million) before the plug was pulled.

Mediapro then agreed with LFP to pay 100 million euros ($122 million) in exchange for relinquishing its rights to games, thus paving the way for new a bidding round on Monday.

 

I can't help but wonder if this should be seen as a warning sign for leagues around the world? There can be a limit even when it is what everyone wants to watch. Granted, I don't know what exactly failed between LFP and Mediapro, but something went wrong.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The light turned on for Messi's supporting cast today and the kids seemed to think that they were on the 2011 Barça squad.

This season has shown that Messi performs much better with smarter/skilled players, but today's match showed that Messi still has the old quickness & skills, he just needs a little help from everyone else to show them off.

First half: Plenty of entertaining runs, but it was only an amuse-bouche for the second half.

Second half: Plenty of skill and team understanding that is frequently lacking even when Argentina's national team gets together with Messi.

Sergiño Dest subs on at the 77' mark and contributes some excitement.

https://www.beinsports.com/us/laliga/video/laliga-goals-highlights-barcelona-3-0-elch/1643046

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On 2/24/2021 at 7:14 PM, Napoleon said:

The light turned on for Messi's supporting cast today and the kids seemed to think that they were on the 2011 Barça squad.

This season has shown that Messi performs much better with smarter/skilled players, but today's match showed that Messi still has the old quickness & skills, he just needs a little help from everyone else to show them off.

First half: Plenty of entertaining runs, but it was only an amuse-bouche for the second half.

Second half: Plenty of skill and team understanding that is frequently lacking even when Argentina's national team gets together with Messi.

Sergiño Dest subs on at the 77' mark and contributes some excitement.

https://www.beinsports.com/us/laliga/video/laliga-goals-highlights-barcelona-3-0-elch/1643046

that second goal was ridiculous.

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In a more worldly news event Defending Chinese Super League Champions Jiangsu FC ceased operation today. It throws the league into chaos which is supposed to start play in just a few months.

Even more interesting is that the owners of the club the Suning Group also owns Inter Milan. An in their announcement today, they said all football clubs owned by the Suning Group, would "cease operations from today." So ... ?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

germany did germany things to iceland.  that 2016 euro experience of making it out of group and beating england was probably it for that country.

les bleus should do the honorable thing and commit seppuku for allowing ukraine to draw them.  the rest of that group is awful though and they should cruise.

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  • 3 weeks later...

9:48 AM ET

Mark OgdenSenior Writer, ESPN FC

Fifteen of Europe's biggest clubs are in talks to launch a European Super League, planned to start in time for the 2023-24 season, with a $6 billion (£4.3 billion) fund backing the project, sources have told ESPN.

If the initiative is successful, it would threaten the existence of the Champions League -- football's biggest club competition -- with UEFA due to announce on Monday a new 36-team format for the tournament designed to stave off attempts by the game's top clubs to break away.

- Stream LIVE games and replays on ESPN+ (U.S. only)

As reported by The Times, English top-flight clubs Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham are among 11 European teams to have signed up to the Super League plan.

ESPN has been told by a person familiar with the blueprint that the proposed framework involves a total of 20 teams, with 15 permanent members who cannot be relegated.

A further five teams will be rotated in and out of the competition, based on performance, but the permanent members will include six Premier League clubs, three from La Liga, three from Italy's Serie A, two from the Bundesliga and one from France's Ligue 1.

Sources have told ESPN that New York-based investment bank JP Morgan will underwrite the project with $6 billion distributed as loans to the teams.

Manchester United and Liverpool are among the clubs interested in a European Super League. Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images

Under pressure from the European Club Association, UEFA has drawn up plans to reshape the Champions League format, with the new-look competition due to be unveiled Monday, ahead of UEFA's executive committee summit in Switzerland this week.

Planned to come into force in 2024, the remodelled Champions League would involve 36 teams playing 10 group games rather than six. The biggest clubs would also receive an increased share of prize money.

Sources told ESPN that UEFA plan to press ahead with their announcement Monday, and that any breakaway league remains a distant prospect, with national associations UEFA and FIFA both needing to sanction the proposal.

Meanwhile, Serie A called an emergency board meeting on Sunday to discuss a newspaper report saying broadcaster DAZN is involved in new plans for the breakaway league, a source told Reuters.

The meeting was called by league president Paolo Dal Pino, and Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport reported that DAZN, which is owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, has been working on the formation of the league for some time.

The report claims the meeting is being attended remotely, with the three Serie A clubs who could potentially be part of the new project: Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan.

It caps a tumultuous week for Serie A after seven clubs submitted a written request for Dal Pino to resign over issues that include his management of plans to sell a stake in the league's media business.

The plans to expand the Champions League are also likely to meet opposition from supporters; ESPN reported last week that fans' groups have already registered their anger over UEFA's proposed changes.

Information from Reuters was also included in this report.

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Premier League condemns European super league after English clubs sign up
  • New competition ‘attacks the principles of sporting merit’
  • Five of Premier League’s ‘big six’ among signatories

Liverpool, seen here in action against Real Madrid in thee Champions League last month, are reportedly one of the clubs who have agreed to the new European league. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

Guardian sport and Reuters
Sun 18 Apr 2021 11.22 EDT

First published on Sun 18 Apr 2021 09.45 EDT

The Premier League have condemned a new proposal for a European super league after details emerged on Sunday that five English clubs have signed up to the breakaway competition.

“The Premier League condemns any proposal that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid,” read a statement. “Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a European super league would destroy this dream.”

“A European Super League will undermine the appeal of the whole game, and have a deeply damaging impact on the immediate and future prospects of the Premier League and its member clubs, and all those in football who rely on our funding and solidarity to prosper.”

The Times reported that Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham have agreed to join the new league. The only member of the “big six” not to have signed up is Manchester City, the paper said, citing sources with knowledge of the development.

Italy’s Serie A called an emergency board meeting on Sunday to discuss a newspaper report saying broadcaster DAZN is involved in new plans for a breakaway European super league, a league source told Reuters.

The meeting, called by league president Paolo Dal Pino, comes before Monday’s Uefa executive committee at which plans to expand and reform the Champions League, changing the format from 2024, are expected to be agreed.

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The source told Reuters that the league had recently become aware of the plans for a breakaway project and the potential involvement of DAZN. Corriere dello Sport reported that DAZN, which is owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries, has been working on the formation of this 16-team league, featuring the top clubs in Europe, for some time.

The newspaper did not indicate a source for the report. DAZN was not immediately available for comment. Uefa declined to comment.

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