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LONDON: Manchester United and Liverpool are in talks with Europe’s elite clubs to join a new FIFA-backed tournament that would reshape the sport’s global football landscape, according to a Sky News report on Tuesday.
Citing anonymous sources in the “soccer industry”, Sky said that more than 12 teams from the five major leagues in Europe – in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – are in negotiations to become the founding members of the new tournament. , dubbed the European Premier League. with a tentative start date as discussed as early as 2022.
The report added that funders are looking to raise a $ 6 billion fund package to kick off the new tournament and said FIFA, the world’s governing body for soccer, is working on a new format, which is expected to see 18 teams playing matches during the regular European season. Sky said, adding that neither FIFA nor UEFA had commented on the story.
Reuters has reached out to both organizations for comment.
The highest ranked teams in the league would qualify for the knockout stages that will conclude the tournament.
Wall Street bank JP Morgan is in talks to provide $ 6 billion of debt financing to help launch the European Premier League, with funds repayable from potential streaming revenue generated by the tournament.
The idea of a European super league has been raised regularly for the past 20 years, and UEFA has spoken out strongly against it.
