Super League and cheating by ManCity and PSG

[spintheblackcircle]

Game Over: A Guide to the New Football Leaks Revelations - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International

In 2016, FC Bayern spent months forging its plan for a Super League with the most powerful and the richest football clubs in Europe. They managed to keep under wraps just how meticulously they were pursuing an elite league for quite some time, but now the secret's out. Confidential documents show that many top clubs are still pursuing plans for a Super League.

Starting today, DER SPIEGEL, in cooperation with 14 other European news organizations, will publish a series of disclosures about the "dirty deals" of the football world. Dozens of articles will dive deep into the business of European football -- a billion-euro industry. German public broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) also participated in the project and will air a 60-minute (German language) documentary on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 21:45 p.m.



DER SPIEGEL and the EIC describe in meticulous detail how Infantino, as then-secretary general of UEFA, thwarted his own organization's investigators in order to take the side of the clubs Manchester City (ManCity) and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), both owned by emirates in the Gulf.
Both clubs are blatantly controlled by authoritarian governments of super-rich Gulf states. Thousands of pages of Football Leaks documents prove:

• ManCity and PSG systematically violated FIFA's financial fair play rules for years;
• Infantino, as UEFA general secretary, buckled under pressure from Abu Dhabi and Qatar and allowed the clubs from Manchester and Paris to operate with virtual impunity;
• UEFA meted out only mild punishments to the two clubs and did not expel either of them from the Champions League as it did with smaller clubs;
• Infantino -- despite an obligation to strict neutrality -- secretly met for negotiations with club bosses from Paris and Manchester;
• he fed internal association info to the clubs and cleared the way for "settlements," although he was not authorized to do so;

• that he thus systematically undermined UEFA's own oversight procedures and bodies.

Click to read more...

 

[East Coast Bias]

f*** a super league right in the face. Terrible idea.

 

[Il Mediano]

lol , I hope no one is surprised by this.

Also, y'all didn't want to invite Roma to the super league eh? Fine, I get it.

 

[John Pedro]

Fair play rule is pretty dumb and shouldn't exist. Teams like PSG and City are good to not rich clubs as they create bid wars with other giants for players making them more expensive which helps the clubs that really produce the talent that makes the sport great. I don't think any of the big European clubs are 100% clean, either. If some rich sheik wants to 'waste' his money in football we should let him do it, imo.

 

[East Coast Bias]

lol , I hope no one is surprised by this.

Also, y'all didn't want to invite Roma to the super league eh? Fine, I get it.

They're on the list!

Man City
Man United
Liverpool
Arsenal
Chelsea
Bayern
Dortmund
Barcelona
Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid
PSG
Marseille
Juve
Inter
Milan
Roma

 

[Il Mediano]

FFP isn't instituted to help smaller clubs, though. I wish people would figure it out.

They have allowed rich sheiks to waste their money. What they haven't allowed is normal billionaires to grow any club outside the established elite because the last thing UEFA wants is this super league to form.

 

[Il Mediano]

They're on the list!

Man City
Man United
Liverpool
Arsenal
Chelsea
Bayern
Dortmund
Barcelona
Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid
PSG
Marseille
Juve
Inter
Milan
Roma

 

[hatterson]

Roma is one of the "initial guests"

Presumably the top group is permanent members and the bottom group are ones who may come and go on some schedule, possibly due to promotion/relegation.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Super League plans get 'leaked' every few years. It seems to always come shortly before the re-negotiation of Champions League setup and revenue distribution.

It's basically to European football what relocation is to U.S. major sports i.e. a threat to get what you want.

 

[John Pedro]

I bet my bro @Duchene2MacKinnon would rather watch Argentinian Super League than this artsy fartsy Super League

 

[Il Mediano]

Roma's like that one friend that isn't actually invited to the party , but gets told to come along because you don't want him to be by himself for the night.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

I bet my bro @Duchene2MacKinnon would rather watch Argentinian Super League than this artsy fartsy Super League

One a like isn't enough you quote

 

[HajdukSplit]

Found it laughable how during the recent FIFA elections Infantino was viewed as a "reform" candidate and to some extent "clean" just because he was the smiley goofball during the CL/EL/Euro draws.

Always found the FFP fishy as the top clubs only got squad bans (reduced squads) while it was mostly EE sides getting kicked out of the competition

 

[Il Mediano]

Ultimately , it will be good to learn some of these things with more clarity , but if nothing happens , then what's the point?

I need to see something major happen before I get too invested.

 

[Evilo]

Bursting open doors.

Nothing interesting in those articles, except things we already knew.
Nothing to see here.

 

[maclean]

It's depressing how one can read this and not react with "well, duh". But I suppose this kind of stuff being thoroughly documented is the only way any positive change can come about. Obviously the example of FFP is one of how new rules don't actually do what their supposed to do and obviously the big players will always be finding ways to work around whatever does go in place, but cynicism aside it is probably still a step in the right direction to have this under the magnifying glass

 

[JeffreyLFC]

I think Football as a whole is the most corrupted sport by far. They all have their own rules and I'm pretty sure many organized criminal organizations have tie with many teams and or officials.

 

[Il Mediano]

It's depressing how one can read this and not react with "well, duh". But I suppose this kind of stuff being thoroughly documented is the only way any positive change can come about. Obviously the example of FFP is one of how new rules don't actually do what their supposed to do and obviously the big players will always be finding ways to work around whatever does go in place, but cynicism aside it is probably still a step in the right direction to have this under the magnifying glass

Yes, that's true. Anyone who's remotely impartial knew PSG and City weren't abiding by FFP like other clubs. It's just impossible for them to have had the true requisite revenue without artificial sponsorship -- impossible.

The Prem TV deal essentially bailed out City , but early on , they were absolutely not playing by the same rules as everyone else. It was beyond clear.

As for FFP itself , for anyone who's mildly interested in it , they knew long ago how farcical it was. It's guise was to promote financial stability across Europe , but it's more nefarious intention was to prevent the Super League from forming and to keep the fat cats fed.

I've always said I think it's a ridiculous enforcement , but if they're to do it , actually do it. City and PSG were not following the rules , but UEFA just gave them a slap on the wrist. It's a joke , but I don't know what can be done about it now.

The only true solution to this is to punish those clubs severely (which would essentially destroy UEFA's credibility even more) or to abolish FFP entirely. I would vote for the latter.

 

[maclean]

I think Football as a whole is the most corrupted sport by far. They all have their own rules and I'm pretty sure many organized criminal organizations have tie with many teams and or officials.

You should check out the sports of Construction, or Real Estate.
The fact is that corruption is incredibly rampant in pretty much every sector and the reason is that corruption is basically just a natural extension of the way people naturally work, and it becomes corruption due to scale or when the public interest enters into the equation. Football is the world's biggest sport, has the most money in it, and has a long history for networks to have built up.

 

[Evilo]

It's depressing how one can read this and not react with "well, duh". But I suppose this kind of stuff being thoroughly documented is the only way any positive change can come about. Obviously the example of FFP is one of how new rules don't actually do what their supposed to do and obviously the big players will always be finding ways to work around whatever does go in place, but cynicism aside it is probably still a step in the right direction to have this under the magnifying glass

For people who don't follow football. For the others, it's nothing new.

 

[Evilo]

The only true solution to this is to punish those clubs severely (which would essentially destroy UEFA's credibility even more) or to abolish FFP entirely. I would vote for the latter.

FFP rules don't hold up against european law. It's a farce. Everyone knows it and the day UEFA suspends a big team, the whole system will blow up.

 

[hatterson]

Obviously the example of FFP is one of how new rules don't actually do what their supposed to do

I'd argue the FFP rules do exactly what they're supposed to do.

Make it look like UEFA is trying while actually doing nothing and keeping the big clubs happy that no more new money is going to come around and threaten them.

 

[Il Mediano]

LOL... meanwhile Roma has to sell Salah for a cut price because of a FFP deadline. Because , you know, we play by the rules and we're small enough to be bullied by UEFA. Good times.

 

[Evilo]

1 tweet/ Yeah owners pump money into their clubs. nothing wrong with that. Except he so called FFP rules. Hence the Platini/Infantino, who are guilty of letting it go.
2 tweet/ Hearsay, based on nothing. And I hate Sarkozy more than anyone here. That's BS journalism.
3 tweet/ See Tweet #1.