Sources: ‘Momentous’ agreement hits Super League as Liverpool plan emerges
A new agreement between Uefa and Football Supporters Europe is seen as a blow to the Super League project in which Liverpool are still said to be interested, sources have told Football Insider.
Uefa told this site on Monday (23 January) that they had signed a memorandum of understanding with FSE outlining their commitment to the European sports model.
The two parties now jointly recognise the “open system of promotion and relegation within domestic leagues culminating with qualification to European competitions” that the Super League wants to overhaul.
The “momentous” agreement also commits both organisations to a top-down financial solidarity model and further amplification of football’s cultural, social and educational functions.
A source working in English football governance told Football Insider that the Super League’s organisers, A22 Sports Management, see the news as another setback in the PR department.
It is claimed that the explicit support of FSE, who function as a lobby group representing the interests of fans, has been expected for some time but is nonetheless another obstacle in the battle to win over supporters.
The agreement also commits Uefa to improving the matchday experience for supporters attending games hosted by the continental governing body.
FSE recently condemned Real Madrid for allocating just 1,800 seats to Liverpool supporters for their upcoming Champions League round-of-16 clash, well below the Uefa-prescribed 3,000.
Officially, Liverpool’s stance towards the Super League project they abandoned almost immediately after its launch in April 2021 has not changed.
But Juan Laporta – president of Barcelona, one of the three remaining Super League clubs alongside Real Madrid and Juventus – recently claimed that all of the so-called ‘Big Six’ clubs remain keen to join up.
A recent preliminary ruling by the European Court of Justice and the imminent introduction of an independent regulator for English football could, however, stand in the way.
Football Insider attended a summit hosted by A22 in Brussels earlier this month, where Super League chiefs revealed that they had used data modelling to forecast that Liverpool would finish 3rd in a revised version of the competition.
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