Spain's LaLiga Football League Slams New European Super League As 'Breakaway, Elitist'

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th April, 2021) Spain's national football league LaLiga criticized on Monday the creation of the new continental Super League competition by 12 leading European clubs as infringing upon the principles of open game and sporting merit.�

The Super League was officially announced overnight Tuesday. The 12 founding members include AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.

"LaLiga strongly condemns the recently published proposal for a breakaway, elitist European competition that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid," the Spanish league said.

The proposed architecture of the Super League will damage the existing football ecosystem and prevent smaller clubs from fairly reaching the top of European charts, which will be exclusive to "an elite few," LaLiga fears.

The Spanish top league described the Super League as "nothing more than a selfish, egotistical proposal designed to further enrich the already super rich."

The Super League will be limited to 20 teams, including the founding clubs by default and an annual qualifying mechanism for the rest. Funding is expected to come from the founding clubs' "uncapped solidarity payments which will grow in line with league revenues," forecast to exceed 10 billion Euros ($12 billion) during the initial commitment period.

Organizers expect the new competition to help football clubs overcome the consequences of COVID-19 by exercising "a strategic vision and a sustainable commercial approach."

The Super League was already criticized by such institutions as the Union of European Football Associations, the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the Italian Football Federation, the English Football Association, the French Professional Football League, the German Football Association, and the German Football League.