Recently, new plans for a breakaway competition, featuring 12 of Europe’s biggest soccer clubs, were unveiled. It didn’t take very long for the public to find out about these plans. It took only 48 hours for the plans to receive loads of backlash from soccer fans all across social media. A study showed that more than 90% of Gen Z soccer fans were against the European Super League. Arsenal FC, Atlético de Madrid, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Ac Milan, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspurs were among the first 12 teams to be a part of the league. These 12 clubs are now known as “the founding fathers,” because of their decision to form the Super League. The original rules for the league went as follows; 20 participating clubs with 15 Founding Clubs, and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify annually based on achievements in the prior season. If the super league were to take place, it would most definitely rival the champions league. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was also against the idea of the super league. They proclaimed that any player who was involved in the Super League would be banned from all FIFA competitions, including the world cup. As a Liverpool supporter, I was quite disappointed that they were involved. As a United States fan, I was also disappointed that Christian Pulisic was involved, which meant that he may be unable to participate in future World Cups. I asked star lacrosse player, Xingyu Wang ‘24, what his thoughts were, and he replied, “I don’t watch soccer that much, but I feel like it’s not a very good idea and it goes against what the fans want.” I wanted to ask a few more people what they thought, because I think it is a very popular opinion amongst soccer fans that this plan was selfish. Quinn Green ‘24 said, “It would have been so stupid. Global professional soccer would have been ruined.” Finally I asked Drew Clothier ‘24. He said, “I believe that the Super League was a terrible idea created by a bunch of businessmen not worrying about the fans or entertainment, but the money they can make from it. Competing players would not be able to compete in anything outside of it like the World Cup, champions league, etc. So in general, I think it was a bad idea.” It is pretty clear that the general consensus from soccer fans all around the world was that the Super League was not a good idea.

The news of the breakout league first came from New York Times reporter, Martin Ziegler, at around 12am on April 18th. At 4:22am that same morning, The Union of European Football Association (UEFA) issued a statement condemning the breakout league. Around that same time, a former Manchester United player, Gary Neville, commented on the league saying that it is “pure greed,” and that he was disgusted that his old team was a part of the new breakout league. At 5:24 that same day, British Prime minister, Boris Johnson, issued a statement on Twitter going against the plans for the Super League. At 8:30 the next day, the Super League filed pre-emptive court motions to protect each player from FIFA or UEFA bans. A few minutes later, it was revealed to the public that the main source of funding for the league was from JP Morgan. Soon after, many big names in the soccer industry started to come forward showing their dislike towards the plans. Later that day, Florentino Perez, one of the owners of the super league said, “Superleague will save football.” Soon after, teams began to drop out. Two  days later, the only clubs left in the league were Real Madrid and Barcelona. It is safe to say that soccer fans got what they wanted; the Super League is no longer.