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Football Leaks claims Euro Super League talks held by clubs
8 hours ago From the sectionFootball
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Fifa president Gianni Infantino
Gianni Infantino became Fifa president in 2016
Top European clubs have held secret talks to create a European Super League, according to a report by German publication Der Speigel.

The newspaper claims leaked documents show the breakaway league could be created in 2021 and see clubs involved leave their national leagues and football associations.

Der Speigel also alleges separate documents show Manchester City and Paris St-Germain avoided financial fair play sanctions with the intervention of Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

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Premier League champions City said they would not comment "on out of context materials purportedly hacked or stolen".

Der Speigel says its source is a whistleblower they call John, who claims that neither he nor his associates are hackers.

"We have very good sources and a strong network that provides us with a lot of information," he told Der Speigel.

What about the European Super League?
Der Speigel claims Real Madrid has joined forces with AC Milan, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Manchester United to form a group of seven sides who went behind the back of Uefa, European football's governing body, to discuss forming a European Super League.

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As part of their plans, the clubs allegedly discussed "an option for leaving the national leagues and their football associations behind entirely".

Bayern Munich are supposed to have explored the legal complexities of the breakaway and one of the documents Der Speigel says it has seen is a "binding term sheet" which 16 clubs would sign to form the Super League.

The new competition, it is claimed, would involve 11 of Europe's biggest clubs, known as the "founders", along with five "initial guests".

The so-called founders, who would include the seven clubs named above along with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Paris St-Germain, would not face relegation and would be guaranteed membership for 20 years.

Der Speigel reports that the five "initial guests," according to the document, would be Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Marseille and Roma.

A Bayern Munich statement said they were "unaware of recent plans for a so-called Super League" and had not "taken part in negotiations relating to such plans".

The club's chairman added: "FC Bayern Munich stands by its membership of the Bundesliga and, as long as I am chairman of the board of FC Bayern, also by the club competitions organised jointly by Uefa and the ECA (European Club Association)."

United declined to comment, while Arsenal, AC Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid have been contacted for their response by BBC Sport.

What are the FFP claims involving Infantino?
Manchester City are owned by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan's Abu Dhabi United Group, while PSG are owned by Qatar Sports Investment.

According to Der Speigel's report, they overvalued sponsorship deals to help meet FFP rules and, when facing sanctions over the matter, the allegations in the documents state Infantino helped arrange more lenient punishments for them in 2014.

At the time, Fifa president Infantino was in his previous role as Uefa general secretary and City and PSG were both fined £49m, £32m of which was suspended.

Following the latest claims, City's statement added: "The attempt to damage the club's reputation is organized and clear."

A PSG statement said it "has always acted in full compliance with the laws and regulations enacted by sports institutions" and it "denies the allegations".

The club added: "Since the introduction of Financial Fair Play, Paris St-Germain have been one of the most audited and scrutinised clubs in history."

Uefa's response detailed the aims of FFP and added that the system "is a comparatively recent system of regulation" and with "the early cases" took "Uefa and the clubs into unchartered territory".

It said: "Uefa is confident that any apparent inconsistencies that may seem evident to some, have been eliminated as the system has developed and become more familiar to all sides."

Infantino became president of Fifa, world football's governing body, in 2016.

"All decisions on Uefa Financial Fair Play cases are made by the Uefa Club Financial Control Body (CFCB)," said a Fifa statement. "It is an independent body.

"The Uefa administration, which of course includes the general secretary, can assist the CFCB depending on the specific case.

"This may include discussions, meetings, assistance to help find solutions, and other interactions to assist the CFCB in its work. Nonetheless, the CFCB is entirely responsible for their own decisions."

In an interview last week, Infantino spoke in general terms when he said: "My job entails having discussions, having conversations, exchanging documents, drafts, ideas, whatever, on many, many, many, many, topics.

"Otherwise you don't go anywhere. I mean, if I just have to stay in my room and not speak to anyone and cannot do anything, how can I do my job properly?

"So if then this is being portrayed as something bad, I think there's not much I can do more than my job in an honest way, in a professional way and trying to defend the interests of football."

Where did the leaked documents come from?
Der Speigel says the source of the documents they have obtained is a whistleblower called John, which is not his real name, who founded Football Leaks.

Up to 70 million documents have been provided by Football Leaks and more than 3.4 terabytes of information.

Der Speigel has shared the information with other media outlets in the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) consortium, which includes Reuters news agency, the Sunday Times and Spain's El Mundo.

Together, about 80 journalists from 15 media outlets looked at the information provided

One could argue that Audi's Sponsorship of Bayern Munich is / was inflated to ridiculous value , I mean, they lied about Diesel exhaust emissions didn't they?

Football really lost it's soul.

I hate this idea. It’s also way too risky to leave your countries federation and take a chance that fans would want to travel all over Europe to help make the new league a success.

If it wasn’t a success then you aren’t just waltzing back into the countries top league, you start again in league 7.

People may argue that such a competition doesn’t need fans in the stadiums. It fucking does.

No relegation for 20 years?! The whole thing is pathetic.

I’m out if we join it.

Crossie wrote:I hate this idea. It’s also way too risky to leave your countries federation and take a chance that fans would want to travel all over Europe to help make the new league a success.

If it wasn’t a success then you aren’t just waltzing back into the countries top league, you start again in league 7.

People may argue that such a competition doesn’t need fans in the stadiums. It fucking does.

No relegation for 20 years?! The whole thing is pathetic.

who on earth can afford hotels , flights and all other extra costs, plus outrageously priced tickets , every other week ? How would it work moving games around ?

Stupid idea . Italians don't go to most football games anyway. Stadia are never full ,except on the odd occasion ,

The end of the travelling football fan .

Crossie wrote:I hate this idea. It’s also way too risky to leave your countries federation and take a chance that fans would want to travel all over Europe to help make the new league a success.

If it wasn’t a success then you aren’t just waltzing back into the countries top league, you start again in league 7.

People may argue that such a competition doesn’t need fans in the stadiums. It fucking does.

No relegation for 20 years?! The whole thing is pathetic.

Not just that. No domestic cups and no UEFA competitions. That leaves 30 games per season in a straight out-and-out league. I don't see how this would be seen as an acceptable alternative by anyone.

Even if teams met each other 3 times (one home, one away, one neutral in Indonesia, the USA, or wherever), that'd be 45 games (compared to the 64 I think we could play this season, plus any FA Cup replays), and travel distances and times for franchised matches would make these nigh-on impossible to be sandwiched in as midweek fixtures. The same goes for any kind of intercontinental 'competitions'/exhibition matches/glorified friendlies.

zuricity wrote:One could argue that Audi's Sponsorship of Bayern Munich is / was inflated to ridiculous value , I mean, they lied about Diesel exhaust emissions didn't they?

That was VW

BlueinBosnia wrote:

Crossie wrote:I hate this idea. It’s also way too risky to leave your countries federation and take a chance that fans would want to travel all over Europe to help make the new league a success.

If it wasn’t a success then you aren’t just waltzing back into the countries top league, you start again in league 7.

People may argue that such a competition doesn’t need fans in the stadiums. It fucking does.

No relegation for 20 years?! The whole thing is pathetic.

Not just that. No domestic cups and no UEFA competitions. That leaves 30 games per season in a straight out-and-out league. I don't see how this would be seen as an acceptable alternative by anyone.

Even if teams met each other 3 times (one home, one away, one neutral in Indonesia, the USA, or wherever), that'd be 45 games (compared to the 64 I think we could play this season, plus any FA Cup replays), and travel distances and times for franchised matches would make these nigh-on impossible to be sandwiched in as midweek fixtures. The same goes for any kind of intercontinental 'competitions'/exhibition matches/glorified friendlies.

They would probably have their own cup competitions, or some sort of knock out thing for the top four after the league like rugby union, maybe played in far east etc. not that I would watch any of it.

According to the Mail (from which I tried to upload a link to twice, but Bugscreens fought back valiantly) , it will all be controlled by a parent company based in Spain, of which Real and Barca and will be the two biggest shareholders , followed , I think by Bayern and Juve(or maybe it was the Rags . . . whatever).
So guess who's going to control the referees , the video replay officials, the broadcasters, etc. etc. Joining this circus will be like taking out a membership of your local BDSM Dungeon, paying a subscription to be chained up, humiliated, pissed on and have other unmentionable rude things done to you by by 6'6" latex queens in high heels and Real or Barca shirts.

WHO , with a single synapse of SANITY in their HEAD, would subscribe to a Pantomime like this ?
If we enter this , we'll be like Sitting Bull at Buffalo Bills Wild West Show ; an impotent exhibit, and nothing more.
If the obsolete old order of fossils are into bukake sessions , leave them to it.
Let us PLEASE try to remain a GENUINE (not real) football club.

RodneyRodney wrote:

zuricity wrote:One could argue that Audi's Sponsorship of Bayern Munich is / was inflated to ridiculous value , I mean, they lied about Diesel exhaust emissions didn't they?

That was VW

also Audi , they use the same diesel motors as VW.


It is , after all the VW Audi group.


The only german manufacturer that has come out unscathed so far is Mercedes.

if this does come, then that's it for me, wont even watch it even if city are playing, rather just watch other prem games and enjoy it

stevefromdonny wrote:if this does come, then that's it for me, wont even watch it even if city are playing, rather just watch other prem games and enjoy it

It'll be my excuse to fuck football off once and for all.
Football has been shite for years, it's only supporting City that keeps me watching it. Can't remember the last time I watched a non-City match

I agree, I used to watch a lot of non city games years ago but not anymore.I hate European football with all the piss in about pretending to be hurt and sadly it's getting more and over here too. If this was to happen then I would be another that simply wouldn't be following g football again.

Pretty Boy Lee wrote:I’m out if we join it.

Me too. Hate the idea.

Really hope we are nothing to do with it. But even if we are not and it goes ahead, football in this country could easily go the way it has in France with PSG dominating. Would get boring rather quickly

nottsblue wrote:Really hope we are nothing to do with it. But even if we are not and it goes ahead, football in this country could easily go the way it has in France with PSG dominating. Would get boring rather quickly

I think you are spot on and I think that is why it won't happen. It would kill the game in England for those that aren't invited into a European league. The fans of the big clubs won't want this and that won't make for a good European league. It wouldn't be long before fans of the teams in the bottom half of a European league deserted the comp. It just seems like noise to me.

Pffff, fucking Shat League! Always a club to beat the minnows.

If anybody wants to believe the shite they spout then they need their bumps felt.

No surprise. Despite their attempts to stop anybody breaking into their cozy cartel (FFP and reallocating Champions League money to previous winners) we still managed to become top dog in the Premier League and look like dominating it for ages (and possibly the Champions League as well) so they try to break it all up.

Once we have a European league there will be nothing to stop clubs moving country. I suspect that club owners will be able to play major cities off against each other to see who will offer the most to host their team in the same way that American Football franchises do. Unlikely that Manchester would have two teams long term when big cities like Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna, Athens etc were missing out and could offer much more.