Hopes of European Super League Are Dashed

© REUTERSUEFA President Michel Platini are seen in front of a stadium in Kiev, September 27, 2011. The stadium is one of the venues for the Euro 2012 soccer tournament, to be hosted by Poland and Ukraine next year. REUTERS/Alexandr Kosarev (UKRAINE – Tags: SPORT HEADSHOT)

Peter Kenyon, chief executive at Chelsea, has snubbed the G14’s invitation to join the organization. It looks very likely that the G14 will be disbanded, not because of Chelsea’s snub but because of UEFA and specifically Michel Platini, the new UEFA president.

With the power struggles in the past between the G14 (an elite organization featuring some of the top and most powerful clubs in Europe – except Chelsea) and UEFA, it appears that UEFA has taken the lead and has formed a “G14 of its own” with a UEFA Strategy Forum.

During the past few years, the G14 has threatened UEFA and warned them about the possibility of the top clubs in Europe forming a European Super League so clubs such as Real Madrid, Arsenal, Barcelona, Manchester United, AC Milan and others would disband their domestic leagues and play against each other in a true league format instead of the “Champions League,” which is a prolonged cup tournament.

If the G14 does disband, this deals a devastating blow to the chances of a super league forming. If so, this is a huge victory for UEFA and Michel Platini so early in his presidency.

I still believe that a European Super League will happen in the future especially with the potential for the huge amounts of money that could be made similar to how the Premier League formed and broke away from the Football League in England.

Editor’s Note: There’ll be no episode of EPL Talk TV today due to server issues, but we hope to return tomorrow morning (Thursday, 10/8/07) with another five minutes of Premier League news.