The Superleague theme takes centre stage at the Social Football Summit 2023. Bernd Reichart, CEO of ‘A22 Sports Management’, was interviewed by Kike Levy in the Global Stage, talking about and illustrating what has happened in the past with the much-discussed competition: ‘The initial project was a proposal to present to the world in football and to UEFA, so that they would integrate it. In reality, UEFA did not even look at the proposal and started a war against us. We wanted our idea to gain acceptance and be integrated into the already existing landscape’.

Reichart acknowledged some criticisms of the Superleague format: ‘Perhaps the most criticised part was the permanent membership, which we later eliminated in favour of a meritocratic system’.

According to the Ceo of ‘A22 Sports Management’, today’s football has two major flaws: ‘We have to mention two different aspects. The current system is plagued by a problem of conflicts of interest, very often competitions do not develop their full potential, especially not giving the younger generation the will to follow the matches of a given competition in full. This is crucial for TV rights. In the past, many leagues feel they have created value. We hope to do this by replacing those compartments and that part of competitions that do not generate enough interest, from the first to the last match’.

In the project there is, however, also a large space for women’s football: ‘Women’s football was also part of the Super League package. We can make sure that women have access to a higher level on the football stage’.