The announcement in April 2021 of a proposed new European Super League for elite football clubs was only the most recent example of attempts to refashion the structures and finances of the European game. The impact on football’s finances of the Covid-19 pandemic was used as justification for this latest proposal for change. It produced an immediate response from governments, fans and media commentators, and it should be of immediate interest to sociologists for the following reasons.
It soon became clear that the American billionaire owners of two top English clubs, Manchester United and Liverpool, were at the very heart of this new development and that, according to Real Madrid’s veteran president Florentino Pérez, 15 European clubs had been discussing it for at least 2 years. The Spaniard had been predicting a European Super League formed outside of the traditional governing bodies as a preferred ‘natural’ outcome for the sport since the 1960s.
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