European Super League: New plans for an 80-team competition to replace the Champions League

According to A22 Executive Chief, Bernd Reichart, the new European Super League would be a competition with no permanent members and would be based on sporting performance.

A22 Sports Management is an organization that is promoting a redesigned European league.

In 2021, the company supported a 12-club European Super League proposal that did not materialize due to protests.

According to the competition’s chief executive, a new-look, open European Super League could contain up to 80 teams in a multi-divisional format.

The competition, according to A22 CEO Bernd Reichart, would be based solely on athletic performance, with no permanent members, he told German newspaper, Die Welt.

“European football’s foundations are in danger of collapsing,” Reichart told the German newspaper Die Welt.

“It’s time to make a change. Football clubs bear the majority of the entrepreneurial risk”.

“But when important decisions are at stake, they are too often forced to sit idly by on the sidelines as the sporting and financial foundations crumble around them.

Bernd Reichart, Perez and Laporta — Real Madrid President, Florentino Perez, A22 Chief Executive, Bernd Reichart, and Barcelona President, Joan Laporta

The initial plans for the European Super League in 2021 included 20 teams: 12 founding members and three unnamed clubs that were expected to join later, as well as five clubs that would have qualified annually based on domestic achievements.

Following public condemnation, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham all backed out of the project within 48 hours.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus, on the other hand, continue to advocate for ESL.

According to Reichart, the new ESL would include 60 to 80 teams, each of which would be guaranteed a minimum of 14 matches per season while continuing to compete in their respective domestic leagues.