A22 Sports Management was the company created by Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus to sponsor and push through legislation for the ESL.
Juventus withdrew from the ESL earlier in 2023, leaving just Barcelona and Real Madrid- along with A22 – championing the formation of a new European competition.
A22’s CEO, Bernd Reichart, has been the face of the company and often announces the ESL’s future plans.
A22’s latest announcements have offered additional changes to the original model. The new ‘Unify League’ will have a new system where clubs qualify for the competition based on annual domestic performance which A22 explain aligns with the UEFA definition of the “European Sports Model” of “open competition”.
They also claim that the revised plans were developed following discussions with clubs, leagues and other key stakeholders.
Additional tweaks to the competition will allow fans to stream matches for free via an ad-supported application called “Unified”.
How does the ESL format work?
The new men’s “Unify” competition would feature 96 European clubs divided across four leagues, Star, Gold, Blue and Union. Last year’s proposal included 64 clubs with three tiers while Unify introduces an additional fourth league called “Union”.
Star: The top league – would involve 16 clubs, grouped into two pools of eight.
Gold: The second league – would be the same.
Blue: The third league – would have 32 teams, grouped into four pools of eight.
Union: The fourth league – would also have 32 teams, equally grouped into four pools of eight.
During the league stage of the competition, clubs play each other within their groups, seven at home and seven away. resulting in 14 matches per club each season.
Clubs that finish within the top four of their respective groups in Star and Gold will qualify for the quarter-finals while in Blue and Union, it’s the top two in each group that will qualify for the final eight.
The quarter-finals will be played over two-legged home and away matches but the semi-finals and final will be decided in a single tie in neutral venues. For the Star/Gold semi-finals and final, the matches will be played in one place across a week of football.
The winners of the knockout stage will be named the Star, Gold, Blue or Union League champions.
The women’s league stage would feature 32 European clubs, divided into two tiers – Star and Gold. Like the men’s league, each would feature 16 clubs, grouped into two teams of eight.
The league stage would take place between September and April with fixtures played in midweek.
Timeline: How did we get here?
Sky Sports News’ chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
“The company behind A22 sports management who have close links to Real Madrid, didn’t give up on their dream.
“Significantly, what they did is they went to the European Court of Justice and last year the ECJ ruled that if you wanted to set up a new competition UEFA can’t just turn around and say: ‘No you’re not allowed to run pan-country competitions in Europe apart from us’, UEFA was legally obliged to consider your proposals as long as it wasn’t a closed league and fitted into the international match calendar.
“The European Court of Justice established that you could potentially set up a new league. On Tuesday, they went back to UEFA and FIFA and presented their new proposal.”
Why would Premier League clubs want to play in the Unify League?
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The ESL was met with League wide protests in 2021
Sky Sports News’ chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
“There would be places for up to 10 English teams every season – three in top-tier Star, two in Gold and five across Blue and Union.
“It would all come down to money. If you said to clubs at the moment to leave the Champions League with all the history and prestige to play in a new competition, of course nearly all the clubs would say ‘no’, but what would happen if you offered them more money and the prize pot? Then I think they would think about it.
“A22 are proposing to set up a new streaming platform saying fans would be able to watch matches for free with adverts or they could pay to watch without adverts with extra features. A22 would hope this platform would take off, fans would pay for the subscriptions and that the prize pot would be bigger as a result. They’d hope clubs will look at that and feel they could make more money out of playing in the Unify League as opposed to UEFA competitions.
“At the moment I think Real Madrid would play in it. Other clubs will look at the proposals and it would all come down to money.”
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Publish date : 2024-12-17 09:27:00
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