The Super League continues to arouse great passions among its supporters and detractors. A model that many fans do not like, as explained by Ronan Evain, president of Football Supporters Europe, a fan association present in 48 countries in the UEFA zone. For Evain, “the Super League model does not hold up,” and it is “a smokescreen for UEFA to give more power to the clubs.”
In an interview with the French media Ouest France, the representative of the European fans harshly attacks the Super League, which he accuses of being based on a “frantic search for benefits”, and defends that the current system is a fairer system: “No It is perfect, but today, in theory, any club, at least professional, can qualify for European competitions. It is a fundamental principle of sport. Your qualification for the European competition depends on your results from the previous season. Spot". And for Evain the Super League "is about creating a system where Madrid, Barcelona and the biggest clubs are protected." “And that is unacceptable anyway,” he says.
He considers that "for Florentino Pérez and Real Madrid it is about taking control of the governance of European competitions, appropriating the maximum income and securing a guaranteed place in the elite of European football", when what European football needs, In his opinion, it is “a stronger regulator and stricter rules.”
Supporters and detractors also divide the support of the fans. Ronan Evain denies that there is majority support for the Super League: “That they can work with one or two groups of followers here or there, perhaps some who gravitate around the last two clubs involved in the project (Real Madrid and FC Barcelona), It is not impossible. But we operate on a principle of representativeness, like unions: that is, supporters at the local level are members of organizations whose representatives they elect, who then appoint their counterparts at the national level, and so on. “Under this democratic system, no one has ever shown their support for the Super League.”
The president of the largest group of European fans confesses that he has only met once with A22, promoter of the Super League: “It was within the framework of a meeting organized by UEFA, in which they particularly refused to clearly explain which It was the role of A22 in the Super League society: who they represented, what interests they defended, who their financiers were...
When A22 speaks, who exactly speaks? Are you a Super League service provider? Is this a Real Madrid service provider? These are questions that continue to be asked,” he maintains.
Evain promises to continue fighting against the Super League: “Our role is to ensure that these commitments are met and we have no reason to doubt it at this time. If other clubs got involved tomorrow, the reaction would be the same as in 2021. That is, opposition to the vast majority of the supporters' clubs," he predicts.
