LONDON, 29 Mar. (PA Media / dpa / ep) –
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain and the European Club Association (ECA), made it clear on Tuesday that there will be “neither a first nor a second” version of the Super League and that none of the three clubs that follow betting on it, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus, will be able to start it up again,
“Regarding the non-Super League, it doesn’t exist. Neither the first, nor the second. Everyone is against it, from the fans, the media, the clubs, the small and large ones. There are only three clubs,” said Al- Khelaifi during the ECA General Assembly held in Vienna.
For the Qatari, “the strange thing” is that the three clubs that continue with this idea “now enjoy playing in UEFA competitions and are enjoying playing in the best competition.” “I don’t think there is a way that they can potentially do something like resurrect the Super League because we are here united,” he stressed.
“Here at ECA, we found our unity in 2021, how to be together, working as a family and taking care of each other. I think that is the main objective and we have achieved it,” added the PSG president.
The ECA and UEFA have established a joint venture to sell the commercial rights to club competitions from 2024, which Al-Khelaifi previously described as a “tectonic shift” in the dynamic between the clubs and the body, with a greater control over your destiny for teams
These negotiations can make the revenue of the European club competitions in the 2024-2027 cycle reach more than 4,500 million euros per season, a great rise compared to the more than 3,200 of the current cycle.
“Now we are analyzing the potential and what we can do in 2022, such as giving greater value to UEFA competitions, proving from all angles that these three clubs are wrong and that we are going to grow more and more,” he said. respect.
On the other hand, the proposal handled by UEFA to admit in the Champions League those who do not qualify on their merits in their national leagues and based on their history in the competition, is “fair” and “adds value”, according to the ECA vice president and member of the UEFA club competitions committee, Aki Riihilahti.
Original plans for new European competition formats from 2024, which were approved by UEFA’s executive committee hours after the Super League was launched last April, included two places in the 36-team Champions League group stage. for the teams based on their continental coefficient, which is based on their European performance during the previous five seasons, something that raised much criticism in the leagues themselves who asked that the classification be won on the field.
Now, UEFA has amended this proposal, so that coefficient places should be awarded only to clubs that have finished immediately outside the Champions League qualifying places in their country.
“Now when we add national performance, for the next best team to come in and for there to be no skipping, it’s fair. It adds value and overall, if you look at the total picture, it makes sense,” said Riihilahti, CEO of Helsinki. .
The director believes that these proposals to change the format are an improvement on the current situation of the UEFA associations ranked from 10th place downwards as there would be a minimum of 37 national champions represented in the group stage of the three European competitions. , while the runners-up from a minimum of 33 countries would also have the opportunity to qualify for the Europa League.