European football set for radical overhaul

Twelve of Europe’s top football clubs have agreed to join a new midweek competition, the European Super League – plotting a collision course with UEFA and its planned revamp of the Champions League by 2023-24


New elite European competition established by breakaway teams from English Premier League, Spanish La Liga and Italian Serie A

FOUNDING MEMBERS
Arsenal		ENG 
Chelsea		ENG
Liverpool 	ENG
Manchester City ENG 
Manchester Utd 	ENG 
Tottenham 	ENG
Atletico Madrid	ESP 
Barcelona 	ESP 
Real Madrid 	ESP
AC Milan 	ITA 
Internazionale 	ITA
Juventus	ITA


KEY MEN
123
(1) Florentino Perez, chairman 
(2) Andrea Agnelli, vice-chairman 
(3) Joel Glazer, vice-chairman

Teams from German Bundesliga and French Ligue 1 – including giants Bayern Munich and PSG – refuse to sign up to proposal

Plans have prompted widespread condemnation – vehemently opposed by sport’s governing bodies and football associations


European Super League format

Three further founding members anticipated to join – all 15 teams will qualify automatically each year
Five teams will qualify annually based on previous season’s results
20 teams, divided into two groups of 10, play each other home and away. Top eight qualify for knock-out stages, before single-match final


UEFA Champions League format

Introduction of expanded 36-team one-league format, with four teams added. Group stages abolished
Each team plays 10 matches, based on seeding structure
Top eight qualify for Last 16 – teams finishing 9th-24th play off for remaining eight places. Number of matches increased from 125 to 225


Super League: Potential sanctions
Clubs banned from existing competitions
Players denied opportunity to represent national teams
Other legal measures


UEFA Champions League winners currently earn around €80m – topped up by coefficient ranking. Founding teams of European Super League would share upfront payment of €3.5bn, before any seasonal benefits


Sources: Super League, UEFA, AP
Pictures: AP, Getty Images 
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