PSG, Bayern the big names missing from Super League plan

CTV National News: Proposed soccer super league Plans for a soccer super league in Europe collapsed on Wednesday after more than half of the founding teams pulled out under pressure.

DUSSELDORF, Germany — The plan for the new Super League soccer competition is, surprisingly, missing the names of Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.

Last year's Champions League finalists were noted absentees from the dozen elite European clubs who announced the plan on Sunday.

Bayern would face difficulties convincing its fans and members, who have a majority say in club business, of the merits of joining the rebels. PSG's Qatari owners could be wary of disrupting next year's World Cup -- which will be played in Qatar -- and a lucrative UEFA broadcast deal if there's a civil war in European soccer.

The Super League has signed up 12 clubs from England, Spain and Italy and left open three more spots for founding members, who will get permanent places in the competition. Bayern, PSG and Borussia Dortmund have been linked with those places.

The imminent return of Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to the UEFA executive committee on Tuesday -- as one of the two club representatives -- also suggests the Bundesliga team is not about to stab European soccer in the back.

Rummenigge has been proposed to replace Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, the European Club Association said Monday. Agnelli resigned as head of the ECA and from his UEFA seat early Monday after Juventus was announced in the Super League plan.

In a statement from Germany, Dortmund said that it and Bayern both reject the Super League and are in favour of reforming the existing Champions League.

Both clubs are on the ECA board, which held an emergency meeting Sunday after representatives of the Super League clubs quit the organization. Rummenigge has been an honorary chairman of the ECA since Agnelli took over from him as leader in 2017.

"It was the clear opinion of the members of the ECA board that the plans for founding a Super League are rejected," Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said in a statement. "Both of the German clubs which are represented on the ECA board, FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, put forward 100% identical views in all conversations."

Also, Bayern coach Hansi Flick said he opposes the Super League.

"I think it would not be good for European soccer," Flick said Monday.

Germany's rules on fan ownership, known as 50%+1 for the voting stake which members must have, pose a problem for the Super League. Fan organizations at the English clubs oppose the plans but have little or no say in how their clubs are run. The Super League waited until after recent elections of club presidents at Real Madrid and Barcelona to launch its plans.

German fans could in theory block their clubs from being involved. Bayern was due to have its annual general meeting last week but it was postponed to the end of the year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Bayern members have a 75% stake in the company which runs the team. The rest is held by sponsors.

Even Bayern and Dortmund's position -- expanding the existing UEFA-run Champions League to more games -- rankles many German fans. Dortmund supporters hung a banner reading "STOP UCL REFORMS!" in the empty stadium when the team played Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The Super League dispute complicates Qatar's efforts to win support across Europe for its hosting of next year's World Cup. PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is well connected at UEFA, with a seat on its executive committee. He is also the chairman of Qatar-based broadcaster beIN Media Group, which holds Champions League rights for large areas of the world.

French politicians have come out against the Super League concept. President Emmanuel Macron's office said the proposed league "threatens the principal of solidarity and sporting merit" and vowed government backing for efforts to oppose the Super League.