The European soccer league is the latest addition to soccer championships being played across the world. Organised by the “European Super League Company,” this annual football club competition was supposed to have 20 clubs participating in the same, 15 of them being founding members and permanent participants.
Planned primarily as a breakaway league, the European Super League or ESL was finally established in April 2021 with 12 clubs and 3 more anticipated to join. The media was abuzz with this soccer news as the ESL planned to take on the UEFA Champions League and even had plans to replace it.
What does a Super League mean?
Any continental competition that incorporates most or all famous club names participating in Europe’s domestic leagues and holds its annual event is known as a Super League. While the establishment of a Super League has been both an aspiration and a threat for some time now, the formation of ESL gave it form for the first time.
The top four Football clubs of Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United and Liverpool have been the driving force behind ESL. Other clubs that have also joined the ESL as founding members include Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City. Three prominent participants of the Europe League are also expected to join in but there is no confirmation regarding the same yet.
To complete the total allotment of 20 clubs, 5 more clubs will be chosen every year on a rotation basis. However, the criteria for the selection of the rotating cast is yet to be formally finalised and announced. It is assumed by most publications dedicated to soccer news that the performance of the clubs, other than the 15 founding members, in their respective domestic leagues would have a role to play.
The founding 15 football clubs, however, are permanent members and hence will neither miss out on matches nor the profits earned.
What is the expected format of the Super League?
The proposed format of the ESL was so designed that the 20 clubs would take part in matches against each other. The operations of this competition were to be governed by the 15 permanent members. The competition format split the teams into 2 groups each consisting of 10 football clubs. The teams would play each other in a round-robin league format with each team playing 2 matches against the other, one each on home and away grounds.

Thus, each team has to play 18 matches with the matches scheduled mid-week so that the teams could keep their domestic league commitments. The top 3 clubs from each group were to qualify for the quarterfinals. Two more clubs would also qualify for the same based on 2-legged play-offs between the teams placed 4th and 5th in each group.
After this, the remainder of the competition was supposed to take place at the end of the soccer season in 4consecutive weeks. The quarters and the semi-finals were to feature 2-legged ties while the finals would be contested by the winners of the semi-finals at a neutral venue.
What is the future of ESL?
The announcement of the formations of ESL was met with widespread opposition from all quarters including fans, players and managers, other football clubs, politicians, other football championship organisers like UEFA, FIFA etc. as well as national governments. The most common criticisms levied was that of lack of competition and elitism. This backlash led to the withdrawal of 9 of the founding clubs. The 3 remaining clubs had initially talked of reshaping the project but as per the latest soccer news, they have announced the suspension of ESL and all its operations.
The formation of ESL would have provided many more opportunities for soccer betting. Punters, bookmakers and tipsters like www.footballtipster.net would have benefitted from it. But with the backlash it has received, currently, the future of ESL is uncertain.