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Following a failed attempt to create an elite tournament known as the European Super League, the Unify League has now been presented to UEFA as an alternative. Presented by Madrid-based company A22 Sports, the tournament is awaiting official recognition from UEFA.
The European Super League was announced in 2021 as a breakaway of some of Europe's top teams. However, it faced instant and heavy backlash from fans, eventually leading to teams pulling out of it. A22, an organisation with links to Real Madrid president Fiorentino Perez, is now trying again to bring in a similar idea.
The Unify League now aims to rectify the issues of its predecessor. It has been proposed as a tournament with four tiers - Star, Gold, Blue and Union. The top two Star and Gold leagues will have 16 teams each, while the remaining two will have 32 sides, combining for a total of 96 teams. Currently, 108 teams feature in UEFA's European tournaments, across the Champions League, Europa League and the Conference League.
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The tournament will see each tier split into groups of eight teams each, with each team playing home and away against the other opponents within their group. It would mean each team will play 14 European group stage games across the year, an increase from the current eight for Champions League and Europe League and six for the Conference League teams. It represents a return to the round-robin format as opposed to the Swiss format taken up by UEFA beginning from this year.
The knockout stages of the Unify League will see the Star and Gold tiers combine, with just the top two teams of each group of eight qualifying. The Blue and Union leagues will have their separate knockout rounds. The quarter-finals will be two-legged ties while the semis and the final will be one-off fixtures at neutral venues.
The most interesting feature of the Unify League will be that the games will be free to watch. A22 has proposed a free Unify Platform digital streaming service that will broadcast all the games.
A22 chief opens up as Unify League proposal reaches UEFA
CEO of A22 Sports Management Bernd Reichart has suggested that the Unify League is a project that belongs to the clubs. The executive of the organisation behind the radical new tournament said (via the Guardian):
“We are communicating with a sufficient number of clubs to align with the idea of the tournament.”
“We’ve gathered the opinions of a wide range of football world representatives. This is a project of the clubs.”
Despite this, it is believed that many of Europe's top clubs may be unwilling to join such a tournament. Real Madrid are believed to be major drivers of the competition but it remains unclear if they have enough support.
La Liga have already expressed their discontent with the Unify League, suggesting that similar to its predecessor, the European Super League, it lacks support from players, fans and other footballing institutions.
