What is happening to The Beautiful Game?

On April 18th, 2021, it was announced that up to 12 of the top European Football teams have signed on to launch a "European Super League." The founding clubs at this point are AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham.

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez, who is also the head of this breakaway super league, said, "we will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than four billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires.

I'm sure you're now asking, why is this happening?

Well, the co-owner of Manchester United, and vice chairman of the super league, Joel Glazer, said, "By bringing together the world's greatest clubs and players to play each other throughout the season, the Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world-class competition and facilities, and increased financial support for the wider football pyramid." Essentially, money is the reason.

Man, I thought FIFA and UEFA were bad, but now they're the good guys. The creation of this super league, if it goes through, will ruin domestic football, The World Cup, and Champions League/Any European competition. What bothers me so much is that this decision is so clearly against what the fans and the PLAYERS want. Bruno Fernandes and Ander Herrera, two of the world's top players, have both already been outspoken on social media against it.

But they don't care. They see an opportunity to make more money and they jump on it.

I mean, at least admit that you're doing this for money and not just say your "responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their [the fans] desires." That just feels like a massive F u to football fans around the world.

UEFA and FIFA have both been outspoken about not letting anyone who is associated with this league play in their competitions (World Cup, Champions League). Now we're looking at the possibility of Messi not getting a chance to win a World Cup, or Pulisic not being able to play on the biggest stage and represent The United States. This just hurts Football.

As you could expect, fans have been very outspoken on social media, condemning this league.

Here are some tweets representing the fans coming together.

What we need to do as fans is come together and make our voices heard. Hopefully more of the players will do this as well, despite the obvious increase in wages that they will get. We need to show the world that this won't work. Messi and Ronaldo NEED to speak out too.

#NoToEuropeanSuperLeague

#EnoughIsEnough