Juventus’ Andrea Agnelli has spoken following the downfall of the European Super League (ESL), admitting that the competition can no longer continue as planned.
Agnelli was one of the executives pushing for a new ESL over the weekend when six Premier League clubs announced their intentions to join.
However, after backlash from fans, pundits and fellow Premier League clubs, the ‘Big Six’ decided that a move to the European Super League model was not in their best interests.
Agnelli has now been speaking about the downfall of the competition.
“I mean, I don’t think that that project is now still up and running,” Agnelli admitted, as quoted by the Metro.
“We didn’t threaten anyone – we still want to participate in the domestic competitions. The tradition of football lies in the domestic championships.
“Fans are important to us and must have the chance to come to the stadium every Sunday.”
Agnelli then outlined his reasonings for wanting to form the ESL, and attracting a younger audience was key to his plans.
“The younger ones want to watch significant events,” he added. “They are not as attached to domestic competition as the previous generations, including mine.
“A third of the fans worldwide follow the Super League clubs, the 10% follows footballers, not clubs, and the most worrying stat is that those between 16 and 24 years old have no interest in football whatsoever.
“The Super League simulates what young people do on digital platforms in competition with Call of Duty, FIFA or Fortnite.”
SL View – Is Agnelli right with his assessment of young people?
While he may have some points that the next generation are less involved in football is true, his way to solve that was flawed.
Even if the ESL attracted new fans, the games would soon become stale and non-competitive that the same fans would soon stop watching.
The problem in football surrounding young people is more to do with ticket prices in the United Kingdom.
Tickets to a football match cost anywhere from £30 to £70 for a standard matchday.
That is a fee that people in the 16-24 age bracket cannot afford to pay regularly, and that was before the pandemic.
Making a conscious effort to lower the cost of football for supporters would be a much more welcome approach to saving the game we love.
Read Also: What did each club say as all six Premier League teams withdraw from European Super League.
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