Reports of forming a breakaway league of their own starting from 2021 by the richest European clubs have been circulating for years but the chances of one actually being created took a step closer to being realised. Documents published from Football Leaks indicated that the league would consist of a 16-team competition with a group stage and knockout round to begin in 2021.

If it were to happen, the current candidates for the league include Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Juventus, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Inter, Roma and Marseille, were being considered as ‘invited guests’ for the first few years at least.

The fact that there has been a growing influence of American investors in European football makes us believe that a breakaway European Super League will happen sooner or later. The relentless pursuit of higher revenues means the continent’s top clubs could soon ditch their domestic leagues in favour of an American style competition that would replace the UEFA Champions League.

In American sports, teams play as franchises and can’t be relegated - a concept that if implemented in European football would directly threaten the competitive spirit of a sport that allows smaller teams to rub shoulders with bigger clubs.

It is most likely that the founding of the European Super League would have a similar effect on domestic leagues across the continent and it is clear that the effect would be disastrous. Removing five largest clubs of the English Premier League would leave a big gap in the domestic competition, with no representation in Manchester and far less in London. The removal of Juventus, Roma and the two clubs from Milano would account for almost two-thirds of all Italian football fans.

The idea of supranational competitions isn’t new

The idea of a supranational league is not new at all with clubs from the leagues outside of the “big five” (Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1) looking for new opportunities to compete in financial and business terms with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Juventus, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, ect.

The Royal League was a short-lived Scandinavian football held between 2004 and 2007, and featuring clubs from Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The tournament, though it attracted major Scandinavian teams such as Brondby, FC Copenhagen and IFK Gothenburg, was cancelled in the 2007/08 season due to high financial costs and unsold TV rights.

Top clubs from the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Scotland were asked to consider breaking away from their respective domestic leagues to set-up a new pan-Atlantic league, in which the likes of Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Benfica, Porto, Sporting CP, Celtic and Rangers would face-off against one another in blockbuster games every week.

Another similar project in the works is the one of a Balkan Football League with participating clubs from Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. The idea is to try to improve the quality of club football in the Balkans, which has dramatically deteriorated in independent leagues since the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

The idea for the League of the Small States of Europe

The League of the Small States of Europe would be an international football competition to be played in nine European small states. The aim of the LSSE would be to allow most successful clubs from the smallest European nations to participate in a more competitive league. The League itself would aspire to achieve parity with the largest European national leagues.

There are currently nine of the smallest European states including Andorra, Iceland, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, San Marino and Faroe Islands that would possibly make a unified football league which would be a more competitive championship that would be more attractive to fans and television viewers, resulting in higher revenues and the ability to attract more talented players.