Liverpool and Manchester United in talks for FIFA-backed European Premier League tournament

Premier League holders, Liverpool, and Manchester United are reportedly in talks to join a new FIFA-backed tournament that would reshape the sport’s global landscape involving Europe’s biggest football clubs.

It is also gathered that financiers of this project are assembling a $6 billion (£4.6 billion) funding package to help create what could be known as the European Premier League.

More than a dozen teams from England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain are in negotiations about becoming founder members of the competition.

Also, English clubs could have as many as 5 teams signing up to join it, with a provisional start date said to have been discussed as early as 2022.

Football’s world governing body (FIFA) had been involved in developing the new format according to reports.

It is expected to comprise up to 18 teams and to involve fixtures played during the regular European season.

The top-placed teams in the league would then play in a knockout format to conclude the tournament, with prize money for the winners expected to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds each year.

Key points to note about the European Premier League

• Liverpool, Man Utd in talks about joining new FIFA-backed tournament; Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Tottenham reportedly also approached
• As many as five English clubs could sign up
• More than a dozen teams from England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain said to be in negotiations
• The format would comprise up to 18 teams, with home and away fixtures played during the regular European season
• Top-placed teams would play in a knockout tournament
• Provisional start date as early as 2022
• Wall Street bank JP Morgan in talks to provide £4.6bn in funding
• The tournament could usurp Champions League

According to one football industry figure, a formal announcement about the plans was possible as soon as the end of this month despite a number of key details – including the full list of participating clubs – not yet finalised and the plans may or may no fall apart.

The source described it as “potentially the most important development in world club football for decades“.

A FIFA spokesperson says: “FIFA does not wish to comment and participate in any speculation about topics which come up every now and then and, for which, institutional structures and regulatory frameworks are well in place at national, European and global level.”

According to insiders, a handful of English sides have been approached about joining the league, with the other candidates comprising Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Tottenham Hotspur.

Also, none of the English clubs is believed to have signed legally binding terms to join yet and it was uncertain which member of the so-called ‘big six’ would miss out if only five are ultimately involved.

The news will come as yet another bombshell into English football, which has been on the verge of a fracturing landscape having spent recent weeks at loggerheads over proposals – engineered by Liverpool and Manchester United – to hand more power to the biggest clubs while providing a coronavirus bailout for teams below the top flight.

A blueprint, dubbed Project Big Picture, would have seen the Premier League reduced in size from 20 to 18 clubs, reducing the number of domestic top-flight fixtures each season.

The plan was rapidly abandoned last week as it was called “a backroom deal” by government ministers.

If the latest plans bear fruit, they would effectively constitute the European super league that has been subject to on-off discussions for many years.