Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has thrown his support behind the formation of a European Super League and says that clubs don’t need UEFA.
The idea of a European Super League was first floated in 2021, with the continent’s biggest and best sides unveiling plans to break away from UEFA’s competition and create a closed competition product.
But after significant protests from fans, particularly those in England, the clubs involved in the competition withdrew their support – although Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus remained committed to the project, believing that European football was in dire need of financial reform.
Bernd Reichart, chief executive of A22 Sports – the company behind the European Super League – recently unveiled a new ten-point plan aimed at reviving the concept, with up to 80 teams potentially joining the merit-based competition.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has already said he is not opposed to the idea of a European Super League, and Kroos said breaking away from the UEFA-run competition might not be such a bad thing after all.
“I think we will see the Superliga. And I believe that for several reasons,” Kroos said on the Einfach mal Luppen podcast.
“The idea of Super League has changed and it deserves to be heard. If you look carefully from both angles, you will see that UEFA is by no means the Great Samaritan for football fans and that Super League has no plans, at least in the second attempt, to exclude any team because will not have permanent founding members.
“It’s a sporting competition, an open tournament, but run by the clubs and not by UEFA, because those clubs believe they don’t need UEFA to do that. I think it deserves at least one chance.”
Kroos then cited the example of tennis greats Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have consistently gone head-to-head in Grand Slam finals, as proof that fans enjoy seeing the best compete against each other again and again.
“Although we have already talked about the loss of passion for football, I believe that the Superliga has an opportunity to reverse this situation. Let there be more enthusiasm and emotion in the matches that we will be able to see.”
“Because at the end of the day, let’s not lie to ourselves, a lot of people always say, ‘Who wants to see Real Madrid against Manchester City every week?’ But are you tired of watching Federer against Nadal over and over again? I’m not. That’s my opinion.”
Kroos speaks from the experience of playing at the highest level for many years. He has won the Champions League five times – once with Bayern Munich and four times with Real Madrid – and is one of the most respected footballers of the modern era.
