It has been a historic, nerve racking, and remarkable week for global soccer (football). It all began Sunday night, April 18, when twelve of the biggest clubs in Europe announced that they had signed off in secret to a breakaway league, “The European Super League.” Backed by the banking company JP Morgan, six of the richest English clubs along with three Spanish and three Italian clubs would form a league in which they would only play each other, instead of teams from their respective leagues. Imagine if Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Kansas, decided to break away from March Madness to create their own league, where participation would be guaranteed every year, and there was no chance of Cinderella stories or magical upsets. This Super League would have transformed the complex European footballing pyramid that has taken more than 140 years of history to build up, and would have turned the beautiful game into a wrestlemania style, profit maximizing, blockbuster event. 

These football clubs which are historic European institutions, now owned by oligarchs, European industrialists, and four American sports investors, decided it was a good idea to make this blatant power grab, in a clear attempt to fill their fat cat stomachs and quench their greed for more and more and more money. They planned out all of the details of this Super League, covering every angle, and for a few days it seemed unstoppable. However, only two days after the announcement of the league, Tuesday, April 20, the whole plan came crashing down. This Super League did something remarkable by uniting fans, players, and even major figures like the British royal family, and the British prime Minister, Boris Johnson. The billionaires had thought that their only challenges would come from the supporters of the lesser clubs that they were leaving behind in the dust, but it was their own fans who protested the loudest. This is why billionaires who know nothing about the history, the principles, and the fans of football cannot be trusted to make the decisions that shape the sport, and why they need to be driven out. As Roger Bennett, host of podcast “Men In Blazers” states so clearly: “Above all, football fans are tribal, passionate, and these clubs are deeply rooted in the communities. The clubs are great expressions of the fans’ identities; the fans are not afterthoughts or customers, the teams are not American franchises, and the American owners who drove this plan in England, did not understand the heart of football and in not recognising that, they stuck a dagger right into that heart.” (PBS Newshour). 

The owners of these Premier League clubs are known here in the United States: John Henry owns Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox; the Glazer family own Manchester United as well as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and Stan Korenke is the owner of Arsenal as well as the LA Rams and the Denver Nuggets. These are people who are in the sports business and who are there to invest and grow their bank accounts, but they must be reminded of what it is that they own. They own major clubs that are widely popular in all corners of the globe with huge fan bases. And those fan bases are fighting back. On Tuesday, the day the Super League collapsed, thousands of Chelsea fans (one of the London teams) gathered to protest the league. Hours later, Chelsea were one of the first teams to leave the Super League. On Friday, hundreds of fans gathered outside Arsenal’s stadium calling for Stan Kronke to sell up. However as much as we would like these ignorant billionaires to be out of football, it is not a simple task. There are not many individuals who have upwards of 3 billion dollars to spend on a football club, and many of these owners are not in a rush to sell the clubs they have heavily invested in. These owners have begun to hand out their apologies, taking full blame for their blatant misread of the fans' opinions, as they try to save their already incredibly poor reputations.

So what now? All eight of the clubs who left the Super League have been welcomed back by UEFA, Europe’s football governing body. This was predictable, but still incredibly shocking as just twenty-four hours earlier, these clubs were the traitors and the destroyers of football. But of course the clubs will be welcomed back: there is too much money at stake and without these famous clubs football would not be the sporting spectacle that it is. Fans will hopefully look to keep the momentum they have gained with the fall of the Super League to push for further positive change. We must also continue to put pressure on the governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA, which in this situation were the lesser of two evils, but which both remain incredibly corrupt and need to be put under the microscope along with these owners. It needs to be remembered that these organizations will issue statements and preach fair game when their money and power are threatened, but continue to ignore issues like racism and corruption in football every day.

So, to conclude, the week of April 18 has been a historic week in football. As the fans prevail against the billionaires this time, we have to realize that this is merely just a battle won in the larger war. The mega-wealthy do not often take no for an answer, and there will always be more attempts at this European Super League one way or another. However, these owners have dragged these famous clubs’ names through the mud and this is a dark, dark stain that will undoubtedly never go away.