Gianni Infantino and Vladimir Putin are plotting something. – Mladen ANTONOV / AFP
Two days after the very ephemeral Super League was put to sleep, we know a little more about the reasons which pushed the English clubs, Manchester City and Chelsea in the lead, to quickly dissociate themselves from the project, leading with them to the flight of their counterparts at Arsenal, Man United and Liverpool. Bad luck (for the naive that we are), it seems that the role of supporters / protesters has little to do with these hasty departures. What do our colleagues tell us about Süddeutsche Zeitung,
at the origin of these revelations?
Putin reminds Abramovich of some principles
On the side of Chelsea, the London club owned by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich since 2003, it’s a phone call from the Kremlin which would have changed history. Close to the owner of the Blues, the Russian head of state Vladimir Putin would have explained to his compatriot how the membership of the Super League could be harmful to the interests of their dear homeland. With 51% state-owned Gazprom being the main sponsor of the UEFA Champions League, it would be a bad thing to see someone close to the almighty Putin preaching for the parish next door.
Especially since Zenith Saint Petersburg, owned by Gazprom, intends to qualify for the Champions League next season and the 2022 C1 final is supposed to be held in this city. Like a good pupil wishing not to offend the big boss of the Kremlin, Abramovich would have immediately reviewed his position and decided to withdraw his club from the secessionist project.
City scared by the origin of the funds?
A few hundred kilometers further north, in Manchester, it was also a phone call with a strong political content that changed the Citizens’ program. In fact, always according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the owners of the club, the Abu Dhabi United group, have learned that the famous billion-dollar financing did not really come from the New York bank JP Morgan, which serves mainly as an intermediary, but rather as an intermediary. Saudi Arabia.
However, if the United Arab Emirates do not have reckless hatred for their Saudi neighbor, they refuse to be associated in any way with this state which does not enjoy a positive image internationally, especially on the issue of Human Rights. In addition, Ferran Soriano, GM of Manchester City, and Pap Guardiola, would have been skeptical from the outset about this Super League, which will have finished convincing the owners of the club that a departure from the project was preferable, resulting in the withdrawal of all the other English clubs.
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin: “I would like to congratulate @ECAEurope for choosing Nasser as their new chairman. ” pic.twitter.com/cheBiwvd97
– UEFA (@UEFA) April 21, 2021
When is the (decisive) position of PSG in this file? Our German colleagues explain to us that if the PSG, through the voice of the new Che Guevara of world football Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, refused from the start to enter the circle of twelve bastards, it is mainly because the Qatari owners do not wanted nothing to do in a league funded by the Saudi nemesis, which for a long time imposed a blockade on Qatar before finally lifting the sanctions earlier this year.
Perez in touch with Saudi Arabia
Finally, in this case, the most motivated was obviously Florentino Pérez, who was found strangely abandoned by his friends when he went to play the super VRP of the Super League on the TV sets. The latter, who never concealed that the creation of the Super League was for him the perfect opportunity to bring in a lot, a lot of cash in the coffers of Real, does not seem to have had anything to say to the about the source of funds.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung recalls that, according to an info from the Times, the Spanish construction magnate had concluded in parallel a deal with Saudi Arabia in order to build the “Quiddiya” there, a sort of Las Vegas of entertainment adapted to Muslims, for the trifle of 6.5 billion euros. Our German colleagues also specify that the twelve clubs involved in the Super League have already spent 50 million euros in marketing costs and other legal costs (to pay the fees of the law firms that have been invited to work on the project).
To put an end to these celebrations – very far from the football field as you can see – we learn that after this monumental fiasco, UEFA intends to retaliate in the financial field. Indeed, the European body is in negotiations with a London investment fund (Centricus Assets) in order to endow the Champions League with a new formula of nearly six billion euros. Problem, and hang in there because it does not lack a certain irony, a large part of the funds of Centricus Assets, managed by the investment banker Nizar Al-Bassam, would also come from Saudi Arabia. Long live football!