The organizers of the original European Super League have announced that the competition has now changed its name to “Unify League”, preferring “open competition”.
The original plan for a European Super League collapsed within 72 hours of its announcement following widespread resentment in April 2021.
Under the plans offered in 2021, a 20-team league would have been created with 15 original members joining the Super League on a permanent basis. The clubs originally involved included Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City.
Last December, organizers A22 revealed that they would be moving away from previous proposals and announced that a promotion and relegation would be included in a new format after judges found that UEFA and FIFA rules blocking the formation of such a competition were in were contrary to EU law.
A22's latest announcements offer additional changes to the original model. The new 'Unify League' will have a new system where clubs qualify for the competition based on annual domestic performance, which A22 says is in line with UEFA's “European Sports Model” definition of “open competition”.
They also claim that the revised plans have been developed following discussions with clubs, leagues and other key stakeholders.
With additional tweaks to the league, fans can stream matches for free through an ad-supported application called “Unified.”
How does the ESL format work?
The new men's 'Unify' league would consist of 96 European clubs across four leagues: Star, Gold, Blue and Union. Last year's proposal included 64 clubs across three tiers, while Unify is introducing an additional fourth league called “Union”.
Star: The top competition would involve sixteen clubs, grouped into two groups of eight.
Gold: The second competition would be the same.
Blue: The third competition would have 32 teams, grouped into four groups of eight.
Union: The fourth league would also have 32 teams, grouped equally into four groups of eight.
During the competition phase, clubs play against each other within their groups, seven at home and seven away. resulting in 14 matches per club per season.
Clubs finishing in the top four of their respective groups in Star and Gold will qualify for the quarter-finals, while in Blue and Union the top two in each group will qualify for the last eight.
The quarter-finals will be played over two home and away matches, but the semi-finals and final will be decided in one draw at neutral venues. For the semi-finals and final of Star/Gold, the matches will be played in one place during a football week.
The winners of the knockout stages will be declared Star, Gold, Blue or Union League champions.
The women's competition stage would consist of 32 European clubs, divided into two tiers: Star and Gold. Like the men's league, each league would consist of 16 clubs, grouped into two teams of eight.
The league phase would take place between September and April, with matches mid-week.
Timeline: How did we get here?
Kaveh Solhekol, chief reporter for Sky Sports News:
“The company behind A22's sports management, which has close ties with Real Madrid, has not given up on their dream.
“It's significant that they went to the European Court of Justice and last year the Court of Justice ruled that if you want to set up a new competition, UEFA can't just turn around and say, 'No, you can't participate.' . pan-country competitions in Europe apart from us', UEFA was legally obliged to consider your proposals, as long as it was not a closed competition and fit into the international competition calendar.
“The European Court of Justice has determined that you could potentially create a new competition. On Tuesday they went back to UEFA and FIFA and presented their new proposal.”
Why would Premier League clubs want to play in the Unify League?
Kaveh Solhekol, chief reporter for Sky Sports News:
“There would be places for up to ten English teams each season: three in the top flight Star, two in Gold and five in Blue and Union.
“It would all come down to money. If you were to say to clubs at the moment that they have to leave the Champions League with all its history and prestige to play in a new competition, of course almost all clubs would say 'no', but what would that mean what would happen if you offered them more money and the prize pool. Then I think they would think about it.
“A22 proposes to create a new streaming platform, where fans can watch matches for free with ads or they can pay to watch without ads with additional features. A22 would hope that this platform would take off, fans would pay for the subscriptions and that the prize pool would therefore be larger. They hope that clubs will look at that and feel that they can make more money by playing in the Unify League, as opposed to UEFA competitions.
“At the moment I think Real Madrid would be in it. Other clubs will look at the proposals and it would all come down to money.”
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