A secret auction process for Manchester United valuing the club at 6 billion US Dollars, a 2.5-year contract for Ronaldo worth 240 million US Dollars. There seems to be no limits to the money spent in football recently. Another phenomenon and source of much discussion and protest has been the European Super League.
For close to 100 years, football teams have competed in regional or national events in their respective home countries. Then in 1955, 10 years after the end of the Second World War, the best teams of their respective countries started to compete in a pan-European competition, known today as the Champions League. The public interest and hence also the commercial interest in these competitions grew. Besides undoubtedly the fame, the European competitions are one of the highest income sources for European clubs and the winner for this year’s Champions League earns a staggering 90 Million USD.
In most countries in the world there are professional leagues and Europe has some of the biggest. There are five major footballing countries in Europe, and they are England (Premier League), Germany (Bundesliga), France (Ligue 1), Spain (La Liga) and Italy (Serie A). The winners of the Champions League are crowned the European Champions and the best club in Europe (the team that has achieved the most wins) is Real Madrid with 14 titles. The winning team then goes on to play the winner of the Europa League in the Super Cup.
Another development which has happened over the past 20 years is that in each of the major leagues in football, a few teams have pulled apart and effectively represent a class of their own. In the UK, it is often referred to as the major 6, i.e. Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea. Those teams attract the most sponsorship money, most prize money and most money generated by merchandise. In turn, they enjoy bigger budgets allowing them to buy the players with the best potential and hence benefit from the cycle starting all over again.
Given this situation, it was a logical consequence that the idea of the Super League was born and announced in April 2021. Rather than Real Madrid competing with Valladolid and Arsenal going against Southampton, why shouldn't the best teams in Europe meet regularly? Surely this would be in the best interest of the soccer fans.
An enormous public outcry was the consequence. Everyone from politicians, celebrities and fan clubs declared that this would be the end of soccer as we know it, sacrificed on the altar of commerce. Also two of the best clubs in Europe, PSG and Bayern Munich, immediately declined after hearing the plan for the Super League.
The original idea that was suggested by the owner of Real Madrid was something of a private club. 12 teams would be invited, among those the historically successful teams of England, Spain and Italy. Those would not have to earn their place. A further 8 teams would qualify annually to participate in the league, effectively shutting out any surprise teams lacking the rich history.
The elitism of the Super League was quickly condemned. Also, the reality of today’s football is that the sport is driven by money: the charming idea of an “unknown” underdog making it to the highest level in their respective countries or even on the European scene is far from reality.
The English premier league is a case in point, and a telling example is the January transfer window. Chelsea, one of the best English teams, spent over £300 million in one month, more than all the clubs of the other four major European leagues (La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A) combined. Many superstars made their way to the Premier League recently, for instance Erling Haaland or Enzo Fernandez. Chelsea spent enormous amounts of money on players that they won’t even use and have enough world-class players to make two squads that could compete for the Premier League title. Chelsea is the reason why UEFA had to change their financial fair play rules, so that clubs can’t have contracts with their players for longer than five years.
According to Forbes, 11 of the 20 most valuable football clubs are in the Premier League, including Leeds United, who were in England’s second division, the Championship, three years ago. Leicester City and West Ham United are also in the top 20, even though they are threatened by relegation from the premier league.
So, the Super League is dead (or at least muted for now), but the Premier League with all their foreign owners and biggest global TV revenues of all leagues might well be the new Super League. However, despite all the money in the world, Chelsea ranks currently at 11th position and the team which finished 11th last year, Newcastle United, is currently ranked 3rd. This shows that there may still be hope: those with the most money won't necessarily always rank the highest!
Bonus:
Fun Fact: one of the owners of Newcastle United is the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, worth 320 billion US Dollars.