#94 What was the European Super League, why did it fail, and why might it return?
Soccer 101
TSS
4.9 • 853 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2022
⏱️ 34 minutes
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Summary
On April 18th 2021, a news story dropped that heralded some of the biggest changes ever seen in the modern game: a group of soccer's elite European clubs announced their intention to form a breakaway European Super League that would rival, and perhaps replace, the Champions League.
The reaction was monumental and the opposition was fierce—and within a few days, the whole idea collapsed.
Ryan Bailey, Taylor Rockwell and Graham Ruthven explain the European Super League story, and how its spectre remains...
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Soccer 101, the podcast where we delve into and explain the stories, the history and the terminology of the beautiful game. |
| 0:23.9 | On April 18th, 2021, a story broke that looked at if it might bring some of the biggest changes we've ever seen in the modern game. |
| 0:32.0 | Twelve of Europe's biggest teams announced they wanted to establish a new midweek competition, the European Super League. |
| 0:39.7 | The contest would seek to rival the Champions League and the Europa League with guaranteed entries |
| 0:44.0 | for the big boys and a shedload of extra cash. It would have completely changed the game |
| 0:49.4 | with repercussions that have resounded all through levels of the sport. However, a matter of days later, the whole |
| 0:56.7 | idea collapsed. So what was the European Super League? Why did it fail? And why may it still |
| 1:02.5 | represent a threat to the game in the future? My name's Ryan Bailin helping me to answer those |
| 1:07.9 | questions. We have Mr Taylor Rockwell. |
| 1:15.1 | Hello, buddy. How you doing? Very good. So all the better for having you here. And also, |
| 1:22.5 | Mr. Graham Rutherland. Hello, Ryan Bailey. Hello, Graham. This was a big, big story. I think I heard you once describe it as the biggest of our careers in this game. Where were you when it happened? |
| 1:29.3 | And what kind of disgusting food were you eating? |
| 1:32.9 | I mean, I don't have anything interesting to say of where was I. I was in my living room all day |
| 1:39.0 | watching the TV and monitoring, Twitter and writing stuff about it. And let's face it, I was probably eating a pie of some sort that day. |
| 1:49.0 | Yeah, naturally. |
| 1:50.7 | It was a day ending and why. |
| 1:52.3 | But yeah, absolutely. |
| 1:54.6 | For me, it was definitely the biggest story of my, biggest soccer story of my adult life. I can't really remember anything |
| 2:02.4 | that could have completely reshaped football. As I know it, maybe in the early 90s, the Premier |
| 2:10.1 | League, maybe the Champions League, the rebranded to the Champions League, maybe that was as |
| 2:13.7 | significant, but I would have been either zero or one at that time. So in terms of something |
| 2:18.6 | that I can remember and to relate to, yes, it was a colossal story that really could have |
... |
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