Juventus and Manchester United shares rally on European Super League plans
WATCH: Juventus and Manchester United shares rally on European Super League deal
Shares in Juventus (JUVE.MI) and Manchester United (MANU) rose on Monday after the announcement of plans for a breakaway European Super League (ESL).
Twelve of Europe’s leading football clubs have agreed to form a new midweek competition, governed by its "Founding Clubs."
The long-rumoured move, which involves the Premier League’s big-six clubs — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham, will rival the UEFA Champions League.
Watch: Six English clubs join breakaway to form new European Super League
Other teams that have also joined include AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid.
It has been reported that a further three clubs will join ahead of the inaugural season, which “is intended to commence as soon as practicable” the clubs said.
Juventus was up 12%, while US-listed Manchester United was more than 10% higher in pre-market trade.
Shares in Borussia Dortmund (BVB.DE) and Ajax (AJAX.AS) are also higher on the day, climbing 8% and 2% respectively, although they are not currently among the 12 founding clubs.
The Super League website reads: "The Super League is a new European competition between 20 top clubs comprised of 15 founders and five annual qualifiers. There will be two groups of 10 clubs each, playing home and away fixtures within the group each year.
"Following the group stage, eight clubs will qualify for a knockout tournament, playing home and away until the single-match Super League championship, in a dramatic four-week end to the season."
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The league is being financed by Wall Street bank JP Morgan (JPM). The Founding Clubs will receive an amount of €3.5bn (£3.03bn, $4.2bn) solely to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic.
However, some critics have argued that the move is being driven purely by money, would destroy domestic leagues, and is against the integrity of the sport.
“The financial incentive for the clubs is plain to see, with a multi-billion dollar package at the heart of the scheme, albeit it would forever break the integrity of the club game,” Neil Wilson of Markets.com said.
“The sort of additional revenues the ESL will deliver would need to be offset by a potential material decline or total loss of existing earnings from media deals through national leagues and UEFA.”
Watch: European Super League - A closer look at the proposed breakaway threatening European football