Soccer newsletter: Has the European Super League come to save club soccer or bury it?

Hello, and welcome to the L.A. Times soccer newsletter. I’m Kevin Baxter, The Times’ soccer writer, and we begin today in Europe where club soccer as we know it is either A) about to enter a marvelous new chapter or B) cease to exist as we know it.

Of course, both options could be true. With plans for a new European Super League still little more than fresh clay, it’s far too early to tell how things will look when the clay hardens.

But here’s what we know so far:

On Sunday, 12 teams from three European leagues announced they would be forming a breakaway Super League to rival UEFA’s profitable Champions League, a move that could wreak havoc on the traditional structures of European soccer. Three additional “founder” clubs are expected to be added to the field along with five teams which would qualify annually and bring the field to 20.

That “closed” format greatly limits the chances of qualification and cut off a substantial source of revenue for most clubs. UEFA, the ruling federation for European soccer, said the total prize-money purse for the 2019-20 Champions League tournament was nearly $2.5 billion, and under the current format almost any European club can qualify for the 32-team field. The event is expanding to 36 clubs in 2024.

The Super League, on the other hand, is much smaller with the field dividing into two groups of 10 teams and group play consisting of home and away fixtures. The top three teams in each group would advance to the quarterfinals while the fourth- and fifth-place finishers will compete in a two-leg playoff for the remaining quarterfinal positions.

The knockout rounds would mirror the current Champions League format: two-legged playoffs leading to a championship final at the end of May. That would be a single game at a neutral venue.

The tournament could begin as early as this summer. In a statement, the 12 founding clubs said a corresponding women’s league also will be launched “as soon as practicable” to help “advance and develop the women’s game.”

Investment bank JP Morgan confirmed to CNN on Monday it would be financing the tournament – and there’s a lot to finance. According to Sunday’s statements, the founding clubs will share $4.2 billion “solely to support their infrastructure investment plans.” The club also have promised more than $12 billion in “solidarity payments” to the European football pyramid over the next 23 years.

“By bringing together the world’s greatest clubs and players to play each other throughout the season, the Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world-class competition and facilities and increased financial support for the wider football pyramid,” Joel Glazer, co-chairman of Manchester United and vice-chairman of the proposed Super League, said in a statement.

The 12 clubs who already have committed to the Super League – Spain’s Atlético Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid; Italy’s AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus and Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham of the Premier League – account for 11 of the 14 richest clubs in the world, according to Deloitte. Those 12 clubs also share 26 of the 28 English championships during the Premier League era, the last 18 Italian titles and the last 16 La Liga winners.

That gives the proposed league incredible recognition and clout, both from a financial and talent perspective. Without them, the three domestic leagues they come from could collapse overnight.

Despite that, why shouldn’t the clubs have the right to break away? Their owners have spent billions to build their clubs and deserve the chance to leverage their investments rather than share their money with underperforming clubs that don’t spend.

The counter argument, of course, is without 19 other La Liga teams to play against, Barcelona would have no league to play in, so it needs to subsidize the poorer teams to have a league. It’s the same argument Major League Baseball makes when it taxes the big-spending Dodgers to fund the low-budget Pittsburgh Pirates.

What the Super League teams are saying, in essence, is they’d rather live with their peers in a high-rent neighborhood than pay taxes to support everyone else.

Missing are last year’s two Champions League finalists, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. The clubs said they are not interested in the Super League idea but, along with Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, may have no choice but to follow if the concept goes forward.

The pushback on the plan was immediate with the five major European leagues, UEFA, the European Union, the British and French governments, FIFA (the ruling body for global soccer), current and former players and fans all expressing opposition to the Super League concept in calling it a bald-faced money grab that threatens the future of the sport.

“We will put everything on the table to prevent this from happening,” Oliver Dowden, the U.K’s culture and sport secretary, told parliament.

Broadcasters – whose rights fees are the lifeblood of global soccer – also are opposed, with The Athletic reporting Monday that major media companies are preparing to take legal action against clubs who break away or devalue existing competitions.

The Super League teams say they intend to continue playing in their domestic leagues and stage the ESL games mid-week much like the Champions and Europa leagues do now. But UEFA and the affected leagues have promised to ban all ESL teams.

They aren’t negotiating from a position of strength, however. If the six English teams were expelled from the Premier League, the EPL would collapse and La Liga’s broadcast revenue would evaporate overnight without Barcelona and the two Madrid teams. The broadcasters’ case could suffer in court as well if the teams offer to stay, only to be expelled instead. Who, after all, is “devaluing existing competition” in that scenario?

If soccer’s richest clubs break away, they would have little trouble attracting new sponsors and broadcast partners and have deep enough pockets to lure the best players. Would you rather watch one of the top six Premier League clubs play Barcelona or Juventus or tune in to see Leeds United play Fulham?

FIFA previously had threatened to prevent any player on a Super League team from participating in international tournaments, including the World Cup. That threat was supported by UEFA and the European Union, but that threat appears toothless and its chances of surviving a court challenge are uncertain.

Interestingly, the arguments being made today by UEFA, the leagues and traditional soccer powers are the same ones made three decades ago against England’s top clubs when they formed the Premier League and the format of the European Cup changed. Those moves also were inspired by money, but the sky didn’t fall. Continental soccer instead flourished; the game is more popular and profitable than it’s ever been and the EPL is the most-watched domestic sports competition in the world.

It could happen again. Or not. We might have to let the clay dry before we know.

Win marks a new start for three Galaxy players

You could almost see the weight of expectations and disappointment lift from Javier Hernández’s shoulders Sunday when he twice erased deficits with a pair of second-half goals in the Galaxy’s season-opening, 3-2 win at Inter Miami. It was a performance that earned him MLS player of the week honors Monday.

“All of us believe in [Chicharito] and know that he’s going to score goals. I think for him, he just puts so much pressure on himself,” said manager Greg Vanney, who won in his debut on the Galaxy sideline. “[You] can’t even probably describe the emotion that he’s going through at the moment, to have a game like that and score two important goals.

“The guy worked so hard every single day, all offseason. For him to kind of take the monkey or gorilla off his back a little bit and to move forward with a couple goals, I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Oddly, the winning score almost was forgotten but that, too, came from a player with some 2020 demons to exorcise. Last year marked the first time in 14 years Sacha Kljestan didn’t appear on a scoresheet while Sunday’s goal, 11 minutes into his 2021 debut, ended a two-year goalless drought.

“Obviously it felt really good,” Kljestan said of the 81^st-minute score, a bending left-footed shot from the top of the penalty area that just curled into the net off the post. “It’s funny because I scored a goal very similar to that in training yesterday off the other post with my right foot.

“When you get one chance and you have a chance to bury it, obviously it makes a difference in the game. I just tried to put it in the corner and fortunately it went in.”

Kljestan, a national team veteran and a starter at Orlando City just four years ago, is now a role player. His 12 appearances, eight starts and 769 MLS minutes in a truncated 2020 season were career lows, but Kljestan said he never considered retirement.

“There was never any question in my mind whether I was going to play this season,” he said. “I feel good physically, I feel great mentally. Despite being the older guy, I still feel very connected to the younger guys on the team and I enjoy being around the boys and I enjoy training every day and all that stuff.”

If Chicharito and Kljestan were trying to rewrite disappointing chapters in their careers, Sunday’s opener was the start of a new one for goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, who made his first MLS start after 10 seasons in England.

“I really enjoyed it. The whole thing seemed like a great spectacle,” said Bond, who made six saves. “The stadium, the atmosphere, the pitch, everything was really nice.”

Both Inter Miami goals came after controversial calls. On the first one, Miami’s Gonzalo Higuain was ruled onside on the start of a breakaway that led to a score, and on the other a penalty was given when Miami’s Rodolfo Pizarro tripped over Galaxy defender Jorge Villafaña at the edge of the penalty area.

“You’re playing with a team that has players missing or you’re playing with young players. It’s very difficult to know exactly what level you’re at until you come into your first MLS game,” Bond said. “To come in and get the first win was huge for everyone, especially mentally.

“So the whole spectacle, the whole day, I found really impressive.”

Off to a clean (sheet) start

Pablo Sisniega knew he was starting in goal for LAFC long before Saturday’s season opener with Austin FC. But if he needed proof that the team was confident in him, it came less than 24 hours before kickoff when LAFC announced it had bought out the contract of Kenneth Vermeer, Sisniega’s stiffest competition for the No. 1 job.

The new keeper then rewarded the team for its faith by making two spectacular saves in the closing minutes of a 2-0 win that preserved the victory and his third MLS shutout.

“The clean sheets are super important for us as a team and as a unit,” Sisniega said. “Keeping a clean sheet in the first game and getting a good result was very important to us. I am just very happy to be able to help.”

The win truly was a team effort.

It’s unusual for a club to have to test its depth in the first game of the season, but that was the case for LAFC. Diego Rossi, the reigning MLS scoring leader, was unavailable with a sore left hamstring and Carlos Vela, the 2019 scoring champion, was subbed off in the 22^nd minute after landing awkwardly while lunging for a Corey Baird pass.

Both players will be evaluated Tuesday and their status for Saturday’s match with Seattle could be a game-time decision. In their absence, LAFC wound up getting goals from Baird, a player who wasn’t with the team last season, and José Cifuentes, a player who wasn’t on the field until late in the second half.

“You don’t want to see people go down, but if it does happen, it’s next man up,” said Danny Musovski, who assisted on Baird’s goal in the 61^st minute. “We have a lot of good players on this team and it shows we have a lot of depth and we are just going to fight.

“Any guy who is called on is going to fight hard to get the win, and I think that was good from everybody who stepped up.”

With a socially distanced crowd of 4,900 allowed back into Banc of California Stadium, Sisniega played in front an LAFC home crowd for the first time in nearly 18 months. The crowd might have been small in number, but Sisniega said the fans made their presence felt.

“Having the fans back made a difference,” he said in a hoarse whisper afterward. “I lost my voice a little bit because of that. It makes the job of communicating a little bit harder, but it makes everything else just easier and a lot better.”

As for Vermeer, a veteran of 13 seasons in the Dutch Eredivisie, he was in and out of LAFC’s starting lineup in his only MLS season, in which he gave up 16 goals in eight regular-season games. He bounced back briefly during the resumption of CONCACAF Champions League play in December and conceded just one goal from open play in the first two games. But he allowed two more scores in the final 18 minutes of a 2-1 loss to Tigres in the championship game and continued to struggle in the preseason.

“There were discussions that took place within the club and there was an agreement we would part ways,” coach Bob Bradley said.

With the promotion of Sisniega, Tomas Romero, a 20-year-old former Georgetown keeper with no MLS experience, is the current backup. But Bradley hinted the team is hoping to sign another keeper shortly.

And finally there’s this …

A day after announcing it would join the Super League, Tottenham became the third Premier League in less than six years to fire Jose Mourinho on Monday after 17 months. Mourinho was 44-23-19 at Tottenham, his shortest stint with a club in nearly two decades. The sacking comes less than a week before Tottenham plays Manchester City in the League Cup final, which would have been his chance to win hardware for the North London club. Mourinho, 58, leaves with Spurs seventh in the Premier League table, four points out of a European tournament spot … Kevin Payne will retire at the end of the year after seven years as CEO and executive director of U.S. Club Soccer. He will be replaced by the group’s chairman, Mike Cullina. Payne, who has spent more than three decades building soccer in the U.S., perhaps is best known as the first president and CEO of D.C. United, which won four MLS Cups in the league’s first decade … The U.S. Open Cup, which played through the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and two World Wars, will not be held this spring because of “the logistical and financial burdens” caused by COVID-19. U.S. Soccer’s Open Cup Committee will evaluate the possibility of conducting a watered-down competition, almost certainly without MLS teams, later in the year. The tournament, the oldest soccer competition in the U.S., was staged annually for 106 years before being canceled in 2020.

Podcast

Don’t miss my weekly podcast on the Corner of the Galaxy site as co-host Josh Guesman and I discuss the Galaxy each Monday. You can listen to the most recent podcast here.

Quotebook

“Last season was the toughest in my career, in my life. I went through a lot of stuff. Honestly, I don’t want to sound like [a] victim. Nobody has any idea how tough this year and half has been for me. I’m holding my tears.”

Galaxy striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, reflecting on an emotionally difficult 2020 season after Sunday’s season-opening win