There’s a bit in seminal sitcom I’m Alan Partridge where the eponymous TV presenter and radio DJ refuses to downsize his car to a Mini Metro.
When erstwhile assistant Lynn claims that it’s actually been upgraded as the Rover Metro, Alan replies, ‘they’ve rebadged it, you fool!’
All of which brings us nicely to the European Super League. Remember that? The proposed 2021 breakaway competition, which would have effectively abolished the Champions League, was brought to the table by A22 Sports, with the backing of a number of wealthy private equity funds keen to make a quick buck from the beautiful game.
The ESL gathered momentum, with a number of clubs – including Chelsea and others from the Premier League – signing up to join.
However, so incandescent was the fan outrage at the breakaway league, it was scrapped and brushed under the carpet as quickly as it had been unveiled. Chelsea were amongst the clubs forced to issue grovelling apologies for their stance.
Well, there’s a ‘new’ breakaway league in the pipeline, with A22 Sports ‘rebadging’ the European Super League into the supposedly-more palatable Unify League… in an attempt to make fools of football fans across Europe, no doubt.
But will Chelsea be amongst the clubs to join it?
What is the Unify League?
A22 Sports Management have returned with a modified European Super League proposal called the Unify League, which would effectively replace UEFA’s continental competitions like the Champions League and Europa League.
That would be the case for both men’s and women’s football, with the new Unify League taking place in midweek and with both versions played side by side.
As part of the blueprint for the competition, 92 men’s teams and 32 women’s sides will do battle against one another, with the qualification criteria from domestic football essentially being the same as they are for the Champions League etc.
However, all qualifiers would play in a single Unify League; albeit one split into divisions named Star, Gold, Blue and (randomly) Union.
The Star and Gold leagues will feature 16 teams, while Blue and Union would have 32. Clubs will then, confusingly, be split into groups of eight, playing each of their opponents home and away for a total of 14 group stage games – a considerable increase on the eight played as part of the revamped Champions League.
Each league would then have a knockout tournament featuring its eight best-performing teams, with four different champions crowned.
This time, A22 – who know they will have the backing of Europe’s big clubs, given the money on offer – will attempt to seduce fans too by announcing their own streaming platform, Unify, which would allow supporters to watch some/all (precise details are not yet known) for free.
It’s expected that most clubs will be on board with the Unify League – they will make more money from it than the Champions League, Europa League etc. But given that they moan about the number of games they play already, and that there would be an increase of at least six if they agree to the current vision of Unify, then it will be interesting to see if cash concerns make hypocrites of them all once more.
Will Chelsea Sign Up for the Unify League?
Chelsea, as mentioned earlier, had signed on the dotted line for the European Super League.
However, Blues fans were amongst the most vociferous in shooting down the breakaway competition, which in turn was one of the reasons why the ESL never succeeded in getting off the ground.
It’s also worth remembering that Chelsea, and others, were sanctioned by UEFA. The financial fine was a drop in the ocean, of course, but threats of bans from the Champions League – assuming the ESL never took off – certainly concentrated minds, and was a key reason for many of the clubs interested in a breakaway backing down.
The European Court of Justice later decreed that banning clubs from joining a breakaway league was unlawful, which in turn forced UEFA to adopt some of the European Super League’s ideas – specifically, more games equals more money – in their revamped version of the Champions League.
All of which leaves clubs like Chelsea stuck between a rock and a hard place. They will want to join the Unify League, make no bones about it, but will be acutely aware of the strength of feeling against the ESL back in 2021.
They will need to convince fans – and themselves – that the Unify League is an upgrade on the Champions League, while taking a gamble by effectively cutting all ties with UEFA.
There are also doubts about the Unify streaming service, which would be free to watch. Without a mega-bucks broadcast rights deal in place, which is the bedrock of financing major competitions in football, how will the new concept make big money?
Is the Unify League Good for Football?
It would be fair to surmise that UEFA’s monopoly on European football is a bad thing; as is FIFA’s on the international scene, which has left us with winter World Cups being handed to host countries with questionable (at best) human rights records.
So maybe a ‘rebel’ competition is a good thing… but only when it’s able to marry the financial riches that its member clubs are looking for, alongside the needs of their players (i.e. fewer games, rather than more) and the wants of fans, which simply extend to watching entertaining football in great atmospheres at affordable prices.
Of course, the Unify League project won’t deliver on all of those fronts. It will help to make football clubs even richer, granted, but it won’t do anything to improve the welfare of players already run into the ground by what is increasingly becoming one long, 12-month season.
And as for ticket prices… well, as any regular attendee at Stamford Bridge or any other elite football ground will tell you, that horse has already bolted.