One of the curious aspects of Sunday’s European Super League announcement was that neither clubs from France nor Germany were involved.
The likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich were not part of the founding members of the Super League and neither are committed to the project at all.
In PSG‘s case, there is a lot of politics involved. The club is owned by Qatar Sports Investments and presided over by Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Al-Khelaifi and QSI have strong links to both UEFA and FIFA. Their BeIN Sports company holds TV rights to the Champions League, while Qatar itself will host the World Cup in 2022.
Both UEFA and FIFA have shown their disapproval of the Super League concept and Al-Khelaifi maintains a good relationship with UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin.
First official Super League video
There are rumours that Al-Khelaifi might be next in line to take over as the president of the European Clubs Association (ECA) after Andrea Agnelli moved to join the Super League.
On the other hand, PSG know that pulling out of the Super League leaves them to miss out on a considerable cash injection, which would come in handy when it comes to tying down their stars.
The contracts of both Neymar and Kylian Mbappe expire in 2022 and it could be difficult to persuade them to sign new ones.
In the French press, L’Equipe painted the divide between France and Germany and the rest of Europe in their front page. “The war of the rich,” was the headline.
In Germany, the situation is different. German clubs have always been closely associated with their fans and, as such, any ambition to join a Super League is minimal.
Borussia Dortmund CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, revealed that both his club and Bayern had rejected offers to join the Super League. They want reform for the Champions League instead.
