Yahoo Sports ‘The wolf disguised as the grandmother’: Javier Tebas derides European Super League relaunch
LaLiga president Javier Tebas has hit out at the latest relaunch of the European Super League, depicting the organisation as a sly thief trying to steal influence and finance away from the heart of football.
Bernd Reichart, the chief executive of A22 - the company behind the ESL proposals - has released a new blueprint for the breakaway competition which would now feature 80 teams across a multi-division format.
Following the widespread condemnation by fans of the initial plans, most clubs involved in the 2019 launch quickly distanced themselves from the idea, many apologising in the process. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus have remained the driving forces behind a renewed push, however.
Now the relaunch, which includes a minimum of 14 matches per team and features 10 principles of structure derived extensive consultation with clubs, is again purporting to stop “the foundations of European football [...] collapsing.”
Tebas, though, is insistent that the group are far from the saviours of football and will instead remain self-serving - tweeting an image which showed a “Super League” wolf disguised as a grandmother and a faceless “Europe football” figure stylised as Little Red Riding Hood.
“The Super League is the wolf, which today disguises itself as the little grandmother to try and cheat European football,” he wrote on Twitter.
“But their nose and their teeth are very large. Four divisions in Europe? Of course, the first one for themselves, just like the 2019 reform ideas. Governed by the clubs? Of course, just the big ones.”
La Superliga es el lobo, que hoy se disfraza de abuelita para intentar engañar al fútbol europeo, pero SU nariz y SUS dientes son muy grandes, ¿cuatro divisiones en europa? Claro la primera para ellos, como en la reforma de 2019.¿Gobierno de los clubes? Claro solo de los grandes pic.twitter.com/y0IQmLzS6W
— Javier Tebas Medrano (@Tebasjavier) February 9, 2023
Tebas has been a frequently outspoken voice against the Super League proposals and he has been in frequent battle with arguably the biggest club on the planet - and one of LaLiga’s constituents - in Real Madrid.
The Santiago Bernabeu club planned to sue the league over the CVC agreement in 2021 which provided clubs with funding in exchange for future television rights.
A22 challenged Uefa and Fifa blocking the formation of the Super League after its launch, arguing the governing bodies were abusing a dominant position under EU competition law.
The European Court of Justice will announce a final ruling on the matter during 2023.