The European Court of Justice said UEFA had acted unlawfully in 2021 when they banned clubs from joining the new competition. A fresh plan was quickly announced by a group called A22, with Real Madrid and Barcelona happy to play ball. But new laws will stop any Premier League involvement.
Twelve teams, including England’s Big Six — signed up in 2021 to the ESL, which was meant to rival the Champions League. Yet amid widespread fan outrage and protest, all of the Premier League sides withdrew from the project within days.
Following yesterday’s ruling, plans for a three-division, 64-team competition — with promotion and relegation and no permanent member clubs — were announced by A22. Fans would be able to watch for free on a new digital streaming platform.
Manchester United immediately rejected the proposals, as did Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid. Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham reiterated their loyalty to Uefa competitions later in the day.
‘The judgement issued today by the European Court of Justice does not change Chelsea FC’s position,’ the club said. ‘We firmly believe that, by working with the Premier League, The FA, other European clubs through our strong relationship with UEFA and FIFA, we can, together, continue to develop the European game for the benefit of everyone.’
And the UK government were quick to point out that, as part of the creation of a new independent regulator, forthcoming legislation ‘will stop clubs from joining any similar breakaway competitions in future’.
The new Football Governance Bill, along with the extreme reaction from supporters two years ago, are expected to be strong enough deterrents in the short term.
In the aftermath of the collapse a Premier League Owner’s Charter was introduced which clubs agreed ‘not to engage in the creation of new competition formats outside of the Premier League’s rules’.
Following the ECJ’s ruling, the Football Supporters Association said: ‘There is no place for an ill-conceived breakaway super league. Supporters, players and clubs have already made clear they don’t want a stitched-up competition – we all want to see the trigger pulled on the walking dead monstrosity that is the European Zombie League.
