Real Madrid are one of three clubs that remain at least publicly committed to the Superleague, but face plenty of scepticism on both their motives and the concept itself. They have at least convinced one of their star players that it is a good idea.
A22, the new firm organising The Superleague, announced fresh proposals for the competition last week, outlining 10 new tenets of their strategy. The chief amongst them was the format, switching to an open league of four divisions involving 80 teams. It is believed that the qualfication for divisions would be based on a coefficient over a number of seasons.
Speaking on his podcast Einfach Mal Luppen (via Diario AS), Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos believes it will come into place eventually.
“I think we will see the Super League. And I believe so for several reasons. The idea of the Super League has changed and deserves to be heard. If you look carefully from both angles, you will see that UEFA is by no means a great Samaritan for football fans and that the Super League does not have the idea, at least in the second attempt, to exclude any team, because there will be no permanent founding members. It is a sports competition, open, but managed by the clubs and not by UEFA, because these clubs believe that they do not need UEFA for that. I think this deserves at least a chance…”
He pointed out that it is a one-sided argument we are used to, without alternatives being presented.
“I think we have only heard the UEFA side, and often enough. Why is it okay for UEFA to introduce a Nations League that no one needs? Suddenly no one asks them about it. That’s why I think it’s incredibly important to listen to other proposals like the Super League. I have the feeling that we no longer listen. We hear one sentence of a new idea out of two and it is utterly doomed.”
Kroos cites a good example in the Nations League, although it was voted for by the nations themselves. Many also prefer it to endless international friendlies, which excited little.
The German midfielder rejected the idea that continuous games between the biggest teams would become tired.
“Although we have already talked about the loss of passion for football, I believe that the Super League has the opportunity to reverse that situation. Let there be more enthusiasm and emotion for the games that we will be able to see. Because in the end, let’s not fool ourselves, many people always say: ‘who wants to see Real Madrid against Manchester City every week?’ But have you gotten tired of watching Federer against Nadal over and over again? I don’t. That’s my opinion. I think we can attract the fans and get them back to football, and it could also bring a completely different enthusiasm to the neutral fan. Because these matches are not only watched by the supporters of the clubs, but also by neutral fans. And I think that, with the feeling that interest in football is waning, we would have the opportunity to increase all that again if we seriously addressed it.”
The example cited by Kroos, referencing Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in tennis, was the same example used to promote the idea of the Superleague by Real Madrid President Florentino Perez called on at the club general assembly.
While many of the Superleague suggestions sound appealing, the plans are light on details on how they would be implemented and what exactly they mean. For example, the Superleague claim they would have a more even distribution of wealth, but there was little in the way of numbers to back that claim up.
