The Superleague have received widespread criticism across European football at its launch but it appears they are trying to change their image.
Real Madrid, Juventus and Barcelona all remain committed to the project, which is currently in a crucial legal battle with UEFA. The European Court for Justice will decide in either late 2022 or early 2023 whether it is legitimate and thus signal the course of Europe’s premier competitions.
A22 have been appointed as the company who will organise the Superleague and Bernd Reichart is the CEO chosen to head up the project. He has been doing interviews throughout the week in a bid to change the discourse on the matter.
On Thursday, El Larguero had the chance to speak to Reichart. Diario AS picked up the interview, where Reichart confirmed there would be no permanent teams in the Superleague now.
“The concept of a fixed position is not something that we are currently contemplating. The design of the format ultimately has to be the result of dialogue, but we don’t have a predefined format, the dialogue we propose is real and that’s why I don’t want to speculate on how it will definitely be. Sporting merit will be applied to all members of that Super League.”
The Superleague is widely seen as a method from some of Europe’s elite to check the financial disparity with the Premier League. Reichart extended the invite to the English clubs.
“The hand is extended to all the members of European football, we want to be inclusive not exclusive”.
The Champions League will change format next year, moving to a ‘Swiss League’ system which would involve a large league and ten fixtures rather than the current group phase.
Reichart was keen to emphasize that would not be necessarily be the case in the Superleague.
“It doesn’t have to be like that, it’s essential to listen to everything, but I’m curious to know the point of view of fans and teams throughout Europe”.
Many had thought the Superleague to be dead in the water after 75% of the team pulled out, but Reichart maintained it was still alive.
“Very alive, there are some who want to declare that she is dead but if they say it a lot, there is a lot to suspect. There are clubs in Europe that surely share the vision of Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona and now they have the opportunity to contribute what they think”.
Image via Bildfunk
