Friday 12/22

December 22, 2023

🎅🎁⚽️ Happy Friday Crew! Yesterday, soccer fans all over the world woke up to breaking news that a second attempt at the “Super League” is underway. What is now seen as an attempt to breakaway from “the monopolization of soccer”, as the CEO of A22 put it, has only received public support from two clubs: Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Not quite the support they envisioned for a hypothetical league made up of 32 teams.

Giveaway: Wake up and smell the coffee. Just in time for the Holidays, our next giveaway will be a $30 gift card for our favorite coffee brand- Kickoff Coffee. As always, each friend that you refer to subscribe to the newsletter is an entry to our raffle. Best of luck!

The Super League
The Prohibition of A Super League Deemed “Unlawful”

via IMDB

📑💼 Here we go again. A lot to unpack for this one, but let’s give you a quick rundown. The top European Court has deemed that it is unlawful for UEFA and FIFA to ban the creation of a “Super League”, as doing so would be breaking competition law. This all started back in 2021 when the idea of the break out league was first floated around. The league is being spearheaded by A22 Sports, a sports development company out of Spain that was specifically created to help kick off the Super League.

🤔❓ Why Create Another League? “The future of Football is free”. This is the vision of A22, which argues that UEFA and FIFA have a monopoly on the sport due to the “control over the commercial exploitation of the rights related” to their tournaments. They then argue that the sport has become expensive for fans and that there is a growing disconnect between clubs and fans due to the various subscriptions soccer fans need in order to enjoy the game. Their main selling point for the tournament is that it will be free to stream anywhere, and that revenue will come from advertisers, and premium subscriptions.

⚽🏆 How will the League be structured? The League aims to have 64 teams in total- 32 for the Men’s side and 32 for the Women’s side. Each league will have three divisions, and there is a possibility of promotion and relegation as well. The CEO suggested that several teams were in favor of this structure when he announced the project Thursday morning, however it’s important to note that as of this writing, multiple teams have rejected the League, leaving only Real Madrid and FC Barcelona as the only clubs who have openly supported the new venture. We see a Civil War brewing as the threat of a new league won’t be disappearing anytime soon.

Thursday Recap

Premier League

Brighton putting pressure on Man-U

La Liga

10-men Real Madrid leap over Girona to claim 1st

Girona drop down to 2nd with a draw against Betis

Friendlies

America snag the W from Barca

Saudi Professional League

Milinkovic-Savic finds the back of the net 4x

Quick Bites 🍕

A Birthday To Remember For Kylian Mbappe

The French superstar scored twice in PSG’s League win against Metz on Wednesday night. To make this birthday even more special- his 16 year old brother, Ethan, made his official debut for the Parisian side.

Watch The Highlights Here

The Athletic: Rebecca Welch Making Premier League History

December 23rd will mark a historic day in the Premier League. Rebecca Welch has been appointed as the referee for the Burnely vs Fulham match- making it the first time a Woman will be officiating top flight soccer in England.

Read Full Article Here

UEFA Champions League: Manchester City walks into a bar and sees Girona, what happens then?

Given City Football Group owned-Girona FC’s recent La Liga success this year, many are already tooting them for qualifications for next year’s edition of UEFA Champions League. But, many are also expecting City Football Group owned- Manchester City to also be a favorite for this year’s Champions League and safely secure their spot for next year’s Champions League. However, if Girona FC were to qualify for the UEFA tournament next season, there runs a serious risk UEFA rules would only permit one City Football Group owned team to make it.. or neither.

Read Full Article Here