European Super League: what would new proposals mean for Newcastle United?

It has been nearly two years since 12 of European Football’s top clubs announced their intention to break away from their domestic competitions and found the European Super league.

It didn’t take long for the highly controversial plans to collapse and clubs are still dealing with the fallout from their initial decisions. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur were the English representatives and were joined by Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona from Spain plus Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus from Italy with a further eight teams envisaged to join to form a league of 20.

The plans fell flat in the space of days after they were released but the company behind the proposals have now spoken about ‘revamped’ plans for a ‘new look’ European Super League proposal. Unlike the 2021 plans, the new format would not see the league ring-fenced to just 20 teams but would instead be a multi-division, 80 team structure that would run alongside domestic leagues.

This news comes at a time when Newcastle United are on the brink of qualifying for UEFA European competition for the first time in ten years, since they played in the 2012-13 Europa League. Eddie Howe’s side have a real shot at qualifying for the Champions League anf, although these plans are highly unlikely to have any direct impact on that, here’s what we understand they could mean for the Magpies and clubs like them if it was to take off:

What are the new European Super League proposals and how would they impact Newcastle United?

A22 Sports Management are the company promoting the revamped European Super League structure and have apparently consulted ‘nearly 50’ European clubs since last October. The key points of how the new proposals would look are that it would be an ‘open competition’ with qualification via performance at domestic level and a guarantee of 14 matches per season.

The description, which has come from A22 Chief Executive Bernd Reichart, from an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, is quite vague in exactly what the qualification process would like at domestic level and how much it would differ from the current format to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League. For clubs like Newcastle United, and others aiming to gain continental qualification through league and/or cup finishes, it appears on the surface that they would be permitted into the competition if they have a strong enough season.

Reichart said: “The foundations of European football are in danger of collapsing. It’s time for a change. It is the clubs that bear the entrepreneurial risk in football. But when important decisions are at stake, they are too often forced to sit idly by on the sidelines as the sporting and financial foundations crumble around them.

“Our talks have also made it clear that clubs often find it impossible to speak out publicly against a system that uses the threat of sanctions to thwart opposition. Our dialogue was open, honest, constructive and resulted in clear ideas about what changes are needed and how they could be implemented. There is a lot to do and we will continue our dialogue.”