THE SUPER LEAGUE CONFLICT: WHY EVERYONE IS UPSET WITH THIS PROJECT?

Abstract: The Super League is a project competition thought of as an alternative to the present Champions League. In this regard, this new competition was designed to operate independently of FIFA and UEFA, which are the governing bodies of football worldwide and in Europe respectively, and would feature a semi-closed group of European teams (15 permanent and five selected based on their domestic results) from England, Spain and Italy (teams from France and Germany were also on the list but the selected clubs, PSG, Bayern München, and Borussia Dortmund declined the offer to join). This move made FIFA and UEFA condemn the proposed Super League, arguing against the ex-clusiveness of this closed league and considering a dangerous precedent that can be followed by other football clubs. The disagreement has escalated to legal actions and sanctions from FIFA and UEFA against the clubs that joined the Super League which, in turn, have started their own legal actions against the two international bodies. Even if the project seems to be abandoned, the situation is still ongoing and it’s difficult to predict the future of sport management after this bold move of several football clubs against the two governing bodies. The present article tries to analyze the situation using conflict analysis in order to find out future scenarios for all the actors involved. Keywords: Super League, FIFA, UEFA, conflict, sports governance.