Prince joins the backlash over football Super League

Prince William warns the breakaway league would ‘damage the game we love’ as Boris Johnson vows to block the six English clubs from taking part.

The Duke of Cambridge warned on Monday that a breakaway football Super League would “damage the game we love” as ministers threatened to ban matches from being held in Britain.

Boris Johnson vowed to block plans by six English clubs – Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur – to take part in the competition.

The league would replace the Uefa Champions League for the clubs, who would play other top European sides, such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, every year without having to qualify.

The plans prompted an extraordinary backlash as ministers said that they were prepared do “whatever it takes” to stop them going ahead. The government is considering legal action to prevent the formation of the league, which they described as a cartel, and hitting clubs that take part with a windfall tax and visa bans for foreign players.

Prince William is president of the FA. Picture: Getty Images

Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, said that the government could bar players at foreign clubs from travelling to Britain for matches and suggested that policing support for games could be withdrawn.

He also announced a review, to be led by the former sports minister Tracey Crouch, to consider an overhaul of the game, including plans for an independent regulator and whether club ownership should move to the German model, in which fans hold the majority of voting rights.

The Duke of Cambridge said last night (Monday) on Twitter: “Now, more than ever, we must protect the entire football community – from the top level to the grassroots – and the values of competition and fairness at its core.”

Prince William, president of the Football Association, the governing body of the sport in England, added: “I share the concerns of fans about the proposed Super League and the damage it risks causing to the game we love. W.”

Now, more than ever, we must protect the entire football community – from the top level to the grassroots – and the values of competition and fairness at its core.

I share the concerns of fans about the proposed Super League and the damage it risks causing to the game we love. W

— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 19, 2021

The plans for the Super League offer incentives of up to €350 million for each club to join and more money from television rights, although the clubs would want to remain in England’s domestic Premier League competition.

So far 12 clubs – six from England and three each from Italy and Spain – have agreed to join. They would be among 15 teams that would take part every year regardless of performance in their respective domestic competitions. No teams from France and Germany have signed up.

Five further teams would qualify annually. At present every team has to qualify each year for the lucrative Uefa Champions League, in which 32 clubs take part in the main competition.

Leeds United's Ian Poveda wears a T-shirt with a slogan against a proposed new European Super League. Picture: AFP

Dowden said that the proposals were tone-deaf and had been met with outrage. He said the football authorities had “a wide range of sanctions and measures” and would receive the full support of ministers. “But be in no doubt,” he added, “If they can’t act, we will. We will put everything on the table to prevent this happening.

“These six clubs announced this decision without any consultation with football authorities. But worst of all, they announced it without any dialogue whatsoever with their own fans.”

Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is drawing up plans for a tax on either the clubs taking part or any transfers they make.

Dowden said that the league could be in breach of competition laws. Asked if it was a cartel, he said: “That is a very valid interpretation of this.”

Johnson said that he would work with football’s governing bodies “to make sure that this doesn’t go ahead in the way that being proposed”.

Uefa warned that clubs that joined would be banned from European and domestic competitions and players who took part could be excluded from the World Cup. The Premier League and the FA also stated their opposition.

Organisers of the Super League said that they would take legal action to ensure the “seamless establishment” of their competition.

Fans’ unions at each of the six English clubs accused their owners of greed and self-aggrandisement.

With Chris Smyth, Kaya Burgess

The Times