Royal Roundup: European Super League faces massive backlash and repercussions

We’re less than a week away from RSL’s first game, and even without playing we’re 9th out of the 13 teams in the West!

European Super League Fallout

• [Guardian] David Squires political cartoon on the Super League.
• [SI] Top Players react negatively to the “Super League” plan.
• [CBS] UEFA executive committee expected to expel 3 breakaway teams from Champions League semi-finals. Decision to be made by Friday.
• [SI] UEFA is even threatening to ban players from any breakaway team from playing in all of it’s competitions.
• [ESPN] Real Madrid president Florentino Perez (who would also be chairman of the proposed Super League) has stated that games need to be shortened to hold the attention of younger fans.
• [FIFA] President Gianni Infantino spoke before the 45th UEFA conference and stressed the need for respect and open dialogue.
• [Guardian] Late Tuesday the Super league was down to 6 after it was announced that all 6 English Premier League teams were pulling out due to backlash.
• [FIFA] has finally released a statement on the proposed breakaway league (excerpt below).

FIFA always stands for unity in world football and calls on all parties involved in heated discussions to engage in calm, constructive and balanced dialogue for the good of the game and in the spirit of solidarity and fair play. FIFA will, of course, do whatever is necessary to contribute to a harmonised way forward in the overall interests of football.

International

• [NBC] Tottenham Hotspur fire coach Jose Mourinho. [USAT] Ryan Mason has been tabbed as interim manager.

USA

• [USSP] VAR was supposed to fix soccer, but after 2 years it’s still plagued by controversy.

MLS/NWSL

• [MLS] Top 5 surprises of Week 1.
• [USAT] A gallery of the best images from MLS Week 1.
• [CBS] NWSL Challenge Cup round 3 preview.
• [101] Comparing MLS to the European Super League.
• [TheStar] Toronto FC trades 2021 International Roster slot to FC Dallas for $225k in allocation.

Flashback

• [4/21/12] Real Salt Lake lost 3-1 on the road vs San Jose Earthquakes.
• [4/22/13] Three red cards shown in the first half during a Real Monarchs match vs Phoenix.
• [4/21/15] With Chris Schuler out on injury (again), RSL’s CB situation was getting grim.
• [4/21/16] Joao Plata was injured as RSL was about to face LA Galaxy. We looked at who could replace him.
• [4/22/17] RSL loses first game since Mike Petke was named coach. RSL 1-3 Atlanta United.

Media

Stripping titles from the breakaway teams.