Sports

Florentino Perez's new plan. a championship only for the stars

December 6, 2019

A new elite competition reserved for the biggest European clubs, which would abandon their respective championships: this is the idea of Florentino Perez, as reported by the New York Times. A proposal that would revolutionize football to its roots. Emptying the national leagues of their top teams would have a huge impact, for someone even fatal: a Serie A without Juventus, Milan and Inter would lose a huge pool of fans and would devalue considerably from an economic point of view. And we know how much in today's football the competitiveness of a team, and therefore of a championship, cannot be separated from vil money: just think of the revenues guaranteed by TV rights. And the broadcasters pay first of all to show the exploits of the champions of the bigger teams.In the mind of the president of Real Madrid there is a competition that, starting from 2024, would bring together the top European teams, with a great representation reserved for the teams of England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, in two tournaments of 20 teams that they would take place during the entire football season. Promotions and relegations? Yes, but only between the two divisions. Participating clubs would have been expected to double their current revenues. Who is outside, stay outside, to settle for crumbs. A proposal that made Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin jump on the chair: "I read about this crazy plan. If it were true, it would be an extremely selfish scheme that would ruin world football: the players, the tiofsi and all the people related to this sport. And all this for the benefit of a tiny number of individuals ".
The number 1 of European football, which emphasized that the proposal comes "from a single club president, who is not even the owner, and from a single administrator", knows well that any super tournament would firstly damage the flagship product of the 'UEFA: the Champions League. Thus, while the controversy between the ECA, the association of European clubs chaired by the president of Juventus Andrea Agnelli, and the national leagues on how to revise the calendar of continental football after 2024 have been raging for months, Florentino Perez's plan is in danger of disappearing. the cards and engrave even more deeply on the world of the ball to come.But the president of Real Madrid, who declined to comment on the rumors or reply to Ceferin, is carrying on with the work: together with 7 other teams from all over the world (the only Italian Milan) he founded the World Football Club Association, which aims to dialogue with Fifa on the football to come. First of all, on the new format of the World Cup for clubs, strongly supported by the No. 1 of world football Gianni Infantino: a tournament with 24 teams that will start in 2021.

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The New York Times on the other hand, he underlines that the reform reveals the will of Infantino to have its say on club competitions. And Perez would have talked about his idea with the Italian-Swiss executive. "One of the duties of the FIFA president – reads a statement from the World Football Federation – is listening to stakeholders and their prospects on the most relevant aspects of football. FIFA believes that an open and constructive dialogue between the various members of the football community is essential to find the right balance and the best solutions for the future of football ". Although the chosen language is as neutral and balanced as possible, that of Fifa already seems a half admission. Florentino Perez, the builder who created the Real Madrid of the Galacticos, he is ready to take down the football as we have known it so far.

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