The news broke down as a bomb yesterday, and today we have all had time to reflect on the matter of the new Super League. Our editorial staff and our board are all on the same page, but we didn’t want to exclude the opinion of our followers and members. Therefore we sent out a poll today for all of us to decide which stance we should take on the matter. The decision that was made by AC Milan can have a big impact on football as a whole, and that is the football we all fell in love in at some point in our lives.
So what is our stance?
Answer: Milan Club Svezia does not stand on the same side as AC Milan in this decision. And we encourage all supporter clubs of AC Milan around the world to stand by us and encourage AC Milan to change their decision.
Milan Club Svezias editorial staff and board are all on the same page in this decision, and this also includes our followers and members.
Background:
Yesterday AC Milan together with eleven other european club top clubs (including Juventus and Inter from Italy) decided to establish a substitute for Champions League. So what’s the big deal? The clubs made it as a closed league which means that only the twelve clubs can compete and decide a winner. No promotion or selection will be happening during the tournament. Is it a possibility that more clubs can compete? Theoretically yes – Bayern München and Dortmund was invited to join, but decided early on that they didn’t want to join.
Now the situation is that Milan together with the eleven clubs can be excluded from both Serie A and CL/EL next season. And there is also talks ongoing that the clubs can receive sanctions during the ongoing season. A season where Milan after seven years of absents from CL is second in the league with seven games left to play and therefore have the possibility to retain their place in the Champions League again. Seven years of waiting for nothing. Besides this the new Super League will most likely be arranged in a way where the twelve clubs only will compete against each other, which we believe will be a very one-sided story that in the long run will not generate much interest in either Milan or the sport as a whole. Also, how good is it for the environment when Milan will travel to England every other weekend?
And there is more..
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin spoke to the press today about the new Super League. Following is a few quotes.
– This is a very cynical and disrespectful plan. It is against everything that football and the EU stands for. Solidarity is not included, this is only about money. I spoke to Agnelli (Juve) and Gazidis (Milan) last Friday. At that time they were both positive to our new plan to reform the Champions League.
– I will now have a meeting with our lawyers to impose all possible sanctions against the concerned clubs. My own opinion is that both the clubs and the players will be excluded from coming tournaments and leagues, including European competitions and World Cups.
The consequence of the new Super League can therefore be that Milan no longer can compete in Serie A and that the players availability for the coming Euros and World Cup is in danger.
What positive sides is there in this decision?
Money. The American bank JP Morgan will according to The Guardian finance the competition with up to 6B$ and between 200-300M$ as a bonus. The clubs will pay the money back in up to 23 years according to Sky Sports.
The new Super League will probably be streamed on plattforms as for example Amazon Prime, Netflix and DAZN. DAZN seem to have an agreement with Milan, Juventus and Inter about streaming rights.
What happens now?
Tonight all the clubs of Serie A had a meeting to discuss the matter. Milan, Juventus and Inter was at first not expected to join the meeting, but showed up anyway. During the meeting the three clubs iterated their will to continue to play in Serie A. It thus remains to be seen what this meeting will lead to, and we will continue to update you on this, which will most likely be a protracted serial.
Forza Milan!