The A22 CEO Bernd Reichart, the sponsor of the controversial Super League, has unveiled the format for the 64 teams that would compete in the men’s division and 32 in the women’s.
The 64 clubs will be divided into three leagues for the men’s competition: blue, gold, and star. The star league will be the strongest, and the gold league will be the weakest.
While the blue league will have 32 clubs distributed across four groups of eight, the star and gold leagues will have 16 teams divided into two groups of eight.
Every squad will play 14 games in total, with home and away matches against opponents in the group stage scheduled for midweek dates in September through April.
Next, during the spring tournament, the top two teams from each of the four blue groups and the top four clubs in the gold and star group will compete in the knockout stages.
Following finals at neutral venues, the winners of each league will be crowned after two-leg quarterfinals and semifinals.
Under the leadership of the sports consulting firm A22, the plan maintained that it was ‘based on sporting merit with no permanent members’.
The bottom team in each group of the Star League is relegated, and the two gold league finalists take their place. This leads to promotion and relegation.
The teams that place last in each gold group will be replaced by the blue league finalists.
With 20 clubs from the Blue League leaving the competition each season and 20 new clubs entering based on their domestic results, there is an even greater turnover from that league.
Clubs from every league will be chosen in the competition’s first year using “an index of transparent, performance-based criteria.”
The intention is to increase revenue through advertising by offering all games for free streaming.
Although only 32 clubs will compete, the Women’s Super League will run concurrently.
There will be two groups of eight players in each of the two divisions, with 16 players in the star and gold leagues.
Similar to that, there will be 14 group matches followed by two-leg elimination rounds until the winners of the star and gold divisions are determined.
Speaking during an announcement of the new plans The CEO of the Super League, Reichart, declared: “Today’s big news is that football is free.” free from UEFA’s monopoly, free to explore the best ideas without worrying about repercussions, and, in accordance with our suggestion, free access to all live matches.
The nearly 70-year UEFA monopoly was broken this morning by the CJEU (European Court of Justice), which also allowed clubs to openly discuss and take into consideration ideas aimed at resolving the game’s most pressing problems.
The ten guiding principles that we released in February continue to serve as the foundation of our plan. A few of the tenets are noteworthy to reiterate: Athletic merit will determine participation. Clubs will continue to be dedicated to their home leagues and there won’t be any permanent members.
Excitement would be generated by SuperLeague matches all year long, not just during the playoffs. With only 14 matches in the league, every game matters. Clubs that hardly ever played one another will now frequently compete in Europe, fostering even more rivalry.
“At the same time, there would be an amazing season-ending knockout stage, mobility within the leagues, promotion and relegation, and an ongoing strong connection to domestic leagues.”
