FIFA Reject Reports of European Super League Interest

Football’s global governing body say they aren’t interested in
helping to form a super league despite recent reports.

One of the biggest stories of the past week has been a European Super League, the formation of which
has been put back on the table by Liverpool and Manchester
United following resistance to their Project Big Picture that
proposed radical reforms to the Premier League and English football
as a whole.

Amongst the key elements of the latest round of super league
fear-mongering was the supposed backing of FIFA, who were said to
be intimately involved in planning for the closed breakaway
European league. However, for their part FIFA insist they aren’t
interested.

“As FIFA president, I’m interested in the Club World Cup, not a super league,” FIFA president Gianni
Infantino told Aargauer Zeitung this week. “For me, it’s not
about Bayern
Munich against Liverpool, but Bayern Munich against Boca
Juniors.

“Liverpool have 180 million fans around the world. Flamengo have
40 million fans and 39 million of them are in Brazil. For Liverpool it’s maybe five million fans in
England and 175 million around the world. So I want
clubs from outside Europe to have that global appeal in the future.
That’s my vision.”

Infantino’s vision of an expanded Club World Cup was set to get
its debut in 2021 with 24 teams—including eight from
Europe—contesting for the trophy in China, but it has currently postponed due to
coronavius, with dates as late as 2023 possible for its
rescheduling.

As for the European Super League, for all intents and purposes
the plan leaked to Sky and other English media outlets earlier this
week is the one that has previously been pushed by Florentino Perez
and Real Madrid

And when it comes to the formation of that kind of a European
league, what’s stopped it from happening so far has never been
FIFA’s involvement or non-involvement. Rather, it’s been a
resistance by the big English clubs to commit given the strength of
the Premier League and the damage to existing revenue streams such
a European league might do.

If such a European Super League was formed, even abandoning the
FA Cup and contracting the Premier League to 18 teams
would mean a season with more than 70 games, a number that is
simply unfeasible when internationals are added to the mix given
top teams currently play 55-60 games in all competitions.

That means that for Liverpool and United to actually join with
the likes of Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus in forming such a league would require them
to stop competing in England in anything like the form they
currently do.

So the question, as before, is less about specifics of Super
League financing or potential FIFA involvement and about more
whether Liverpool and United might actually be willing to follow
through on their threat and throw their lot in with those big
continental sides if they don’t get their way on Project Big
Picture.

Scores of Lagosians have broken into a warehouse in the Amuwo
area of Lagos State where COVID-19 palliatives were being
stored.

Viral videos on social media on Thursday showed people packing
out bags and cartons of the palliatives which were ought to have
been shared by government to cushion the negative impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

Also spotted in one of the videos, was a van belonging to a
joint Internal Security Operational platform, OP MESA, with people
loading the vehicle with the palliatives.

In a swift reaction, the state government has, however, debunked
reports that the palliatives had been stored in there for
months.

Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sanwo-Olu, Gboyega Akosile, in
a tweet described the comments as ‘falsehood and inciting’.

“The government didn’t lock the food packs in. They’re in
warehouse for distribution,” he said.

According to him, the governor only received the palliatives on
September 22, less than a month ago.

Akosile further explained that Governor Sanwo-Olu had used his
personal and state resources to get food palliatives for vulnerable
Lagosians even before the contributions from the Coalition Against
COVID (CA-COVID).

This is coming amid the chaos, series of destruction and looting
that has occurred in many areas of the state.

Major malls, shops, businesses and even vehicles have been burnt
down – part of an aftermath of shootings that occurred on Tuesday
at the Lekki Toll Gate area of the state.

Peaceful protesters had gathered despite a curfew imposed to end
spiralling protests over police brutality and deep-rooted social
grievances.

At the Lekki Toll Gate which has been one of the major
converging points, peaceful and unarmed protesters, however, defied
the curfew and stayed put, hours after it was to have
commenced.

The situation took a turn for the worse around 7:00 pm when the
security operatives stormed the area and started shooting
sporadically.

“It wasn’t to drive us away, it was to kills us,” one of the
protesters who said he saw the armed soldiers, told Channels
Television.

According to Amnesty International, at least 12 people were
killed in the deadly shooting.