Chelsea join the Super League: When, why, and what comes next?

Editor’s Note: This article was written shortly after The Super League announcement by Chelsea and other clubs. It is entirely likely that, by the time this piece is published, things will have changed or become clearer. We are choosing to release this article as it is to reflect the integrity of the moment it was written.

In a club statement announced last night Chelsea have agreed to join the European Super League (ESL). This is a new mid-week competition designed to compete with UEFA’s Champions League competition.

There are number of facets to do with this decision by the club and there are still a number of gaps of understanding that need to be filled. However, providing an immediate response to something Joel Glazer, Co Chairman of Manchester United and Vice President of the ESL has described as “opening a new chapter of football” is incredibly important.

Chelsea has joined eleven other clubs, considered to be the founding clubs of this new setup. Those clubs are: AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico de Madrid, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspur.

For those seeking an understanding as to how this new competition will be set up, within Chelsea’s club statement they have outlined the competition’s format.

It should not come as a surprise for one moment that the elite clubs of world football are seeking a new form of competition which will ultimately break them away from their domestic leagues and the European competitions, they are already involved in.

We have seen clubs lament the fact that the wealth in football and revenue generated by certain clubs is not distributed fairly by the governing bodies. Now we are seeing a battle between power and wealth, between governing bodies and the elite clubs of Europe to see where the influence ultimately lies.

I personally do not know the ins and outs of this or Roman Abramovich’s view on this decision to join the ESL, however one thing for certain is that Chelsea have made a decision which will upset numerous fans across the world. For all the success currently being witnessed on the pitch, one announcement has taken center stage in the eyes of all Chelsea fans.

There will be tremendous uproar at the fact Chelsea has associated themselves with a group of elitists seeking to exploit football at its lowest point. The global pandemic has seen a number of clubs miss out on large sums of money. In fairness to Chelsea and Roman Abramovich, club staff were guaranteed pay, the club hotel was kept open free of charge for NHS workers who were at the frontline and those are just some of the many great things Abramovich committed to during the pandemic. However, amongst many fans a sense of greed may have taken ultimate place in the eyes of the club with the promise of £350 million pounds to the clubs that join.

Competition has been at the very heart of football and the immediate understanding of this proposed competition is that there really is no end goal, seemingly a competition to continually fill the pockets of the people who are solely interested in seeking optimum return for their investments as opposed to understanding the impact this may have on the heart and soul of clubs; the fans.

A competition such as this leaves way too many questions unanswered that by no means President of the ESL and Real Madrid Chairman Florentino Perez will have to answer to. How will FIFA respond to this breakaway league? How will the players react to not having a say in the competitions that they play in? How will this affect contracts and the money that players are promised? How will sponsors allocate their resources? What happens to existing deals that are in place? These are just some of the many questions that will require answers.

The one thing to note for me personally is the timing and point of such a league. You look at Tottenham who have built a new stadium and will have paid close attention to Arsenal’s financial troubles following their move to The Emirates. This serves as a perfect way to gain large sums of money to pay off numerous debts. Arsenal are injected with much needed investment; Barcelona is provided with a platform to pay off debts that have been owed for longer than we can remember. Real Madrid is provided with the investment they need to return possibly back to their Galactico ways. AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus have all experienced financial issues which a super league obviously solves for them. Is this something Chelsea really want to get involved in?

You expect us to believe that these are all just coincidences and that we as fans should simply turn the other cheek. It is almost impossible and as paying fans who have contributed largely to the success of Chelsea from a financial point of view deserve an explanation for a decision such as this. The answer may be as simple as the money was too good to turn down, but one has to question whether football is so lost in the money or money is truly what makes the world go round.