PDA

View Full Version : Qatari 'Dream Football League' Champions League Rival



ScottB
13-03-2013, 01:08 PM
Well, this would probably mark the beginning of a true breakaway super league, plus the money involved would cement those teams invited as the dominant forces in European football...

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/qatar-launch-rival-champions-league-report-492858.html


In its latest move to achieve sporting dominance, Qatar will launch the ‘Dream Football League’ (DFL) next month, featuring some of the world’s top football clubs, according to The Times.
The British newspaper said that the DFL, which is backed by the Qatari royal family, will be held every two years in Qatar and neighbouring Gulf states. The DFL would be a clear rival to existing competitions like FIFA’s Champions League.
Elite clubs such as Manchester United and Barcelona could be offered as much as US$261m on a two-year basis, the Times said, dwarfing receipts from the Champions League, where current champions Chelsea picked up US$70m in prize money last year.
The report suggested that 16 clubs could become ‘permanent members’ of the DFL, with a further eight clubs competing on an invitational basis.

The tournament, which The Times said could be held in Qatar and six cities across the Gulf – including those in the UAE – would be held in the summer, offering a way to test Qatar’s plans to provide air conditioned stadiums and facilities for fans.
The Gulf state is set to host the FIFA World Cup in the summer of 2022, and has faced criticism about the tournament being played in the hot summer months.
“These people have already shown that, if they want something to happen, they will throw enough money at it to make it happen,” one source close to the project told The Times. “And the football industry has shown that everything can be bought for the right price.”
Qatar is spending billions of dollars in upgrading its infrastructure ahead of the 2022 World Cup. Apart from new stadiums, the country is also building a railway network, a metro line for the capital, Doha and upgrades for its roads and bridges. A new US$15.5bn airport, Hamad International Airport, will open next month.
Aside from the World Cup, Qatar has also invested heavily in Paris St Germain, the French Ligue 1 side. Currently top of the French League, the Gulf state has brought the likes of David Beckham, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Paris.

Leishy1995
13-03-2013, 01:11 PM
Against Modern Football.

LeighLoyal
13-03-2013, 01:13 PM
Pretty absurd and corrupt stuff, much like Qatar getting to host the world cup.

Leishy1995
13-03-2013, 01:14 PM
These are the people killing our game, the man city esq teams buying who they want makes me angry.


Hope they royally **** up.

PatHead
13-03-2013, 01:18 PM
Obviously they will invite Celtic and The Rangers into it as they are big clubs. With any luck their supporters will follow them. Would love to see the Qatar government handle that situation.

On a more serious note this is obviously what FIFA are worried about. Losing control of the game. It could end up like cricket, darts or boxing with many different organisations in charge. The end of football as we know it but the existing organisations only have themselves to blame with letting tv and big money dictate.

ScottB
13-03-2013, 01:22 PM
Obviously they will invite Celtic and The Rangers into it as they are big clubs. With any luck their supporters will follow them. Would love to see the Qatar government handle that situation.

On a more serious note this is obviously what FIFA are worried about. Losing control of the game. It could end up like cricket, darts or boxing with many different organisations in charge. The end of football as we know it but the existing organisations only have themselves to blame with letting tv and big money dictate.

Joking aside, what if they did invite, say Celtic. They've done well in the Champions League this season, handing them £200million + over 2 years would totally warp our league far beyond anything we've yet seen!

Teo10
13-03-2013, 01:26 PM
Wonder when Hearts will get their invite?:confused:

DH1875
13-03-2013, 01:30 PM
Summer football :hmmm:.

PatHead
13-03-2013, 01:31 PM
Joking aside, what if they did invite, say Celtic. They've done well in the Champions League this season, handing them £200million + over 2 years would totally warp our league far beyond anything we've yet seen!

They made the last 16, not even sniffing a last 8 spot. If you take into account they would want Asian, African, US, South American and possibly Australian to make it truly global I don't think Celltic would get a sniff.

You may see Uefa attempt a proper Euro League to try and head them off at the pass though and Celtic would certainly be considered for a higher division of that set up.

Leishy1995
13-03-2013, 01:33 PM
It be good if this was like the club world cup in a way. But the money would kill our game if Celtic got an invite.

DH1875
13-03-2013, 01:35 PM
They made the last 16, not even sniffing a last 8 spot. If you take into account they would want Asian, African, US, South American and possibly Australian to make it truly global I don't think Celltic would get a sniff.

You may see Uefa attempt a proper Euro League to try and head them off at the pass though and Celtic would certainly be considered for a higher division of that set up.


I dunno, they wouldn't be in the 16 permanent clubs but could see them being one of the 8 who sometimes get an invite.

ballengeich
13-03-2013, 01:36 PM
What do the Qataris get from this? Is it anything more than an exercise in egomania?

At a Scottish/British level, the disappearance of the top EPL teams into a superleague is the one thing that could get Sevtic invited south, possibly as part of a general UK merger. I realise the initial proposal is for a tournament in addition to existing events, but I think it would soon expand into an all-year event, with clubs withdrawing from national leagues (though perhaps Chelsea, Man U etc would leave colt teams in their domestic setup).

Geo_1875
13-03-2013, 01:40 PM
And we thought SKY had ****ed football!!!

ScottB
13-03-2013, 02:02 PM
They made the last 16, not even sniffing a last 8 spot. If you take into account they would want Asian, African, US, South American and possibly Australian to make it truly global I don't think Celltic would get a sniff.

You may see Uefa attempt a proper Euro League to try and head them off at the pass though and Celtic would certainly be considered for a higher division of that set up.

I suspect clubs will be chosen more on terms of audience and appeal rather than a global spread, they won't care about that. Man Utd are probably more popular in the Far East than any local club.

They certainly won't be one of the 16, but if they vary the other 8 then I'd think they could well get an invite, they do have a rather large fanbase spread around the world after all.


I think there will be major opposition to this in the big leagues, say both Manc clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal get taken, that's a vast amount of money they'll get that could well elevate them out of the reach of anybody else.

I'd assume the 16 would include Man Utd, Man City (arab owners will ensure it), Chelsea, Barca, Real, PSG, Bayern, Juve, Milan, Inter... Not sure who else, depends who the Arab nations own at the time it starts I suspect...

VickMackie
13-03-2013, 02:17 PM
So it's really just a champions league with more money. Football will be interesting over the next 2 decades in terms of where it goes.

PatHead
13-03-2013, 02:24 PM
So it's really just a champions league with more money. Football will be interesting over the next 2 decades in terms of where it goes.

Suspect it could be the end of the World Cup as we know it though. These clubs won't want to risk their assets.

Scott Allan Key
13-03-2013, 03:25 PM
Not content with funding terrorists in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, etc to foment Islamic sectarianism they now intend to destroy football. Hope the next meteor falls on Qatar.

Pretty Boy
13-03-2013, 03:32 PM
So the rich get richer and the rest of us continue to watch whatevers left.

And I thought the Champions League had become boring because of it's predictability.

Since90+2
13-03-2013, 03:40 PM
I suspect clubs will be chosen more on terms of audience and appeal rather than a global spread, they won't care about that. Man Utd are probably more popular in the Far East than any local club.

They certainly won't be one of the 16, but if they vary the other 8 then I'd think they could well get an invite, they do have a rather large fanbase spread around the world after all.


I think there will be major opposition to this in the big leagues, say both Manc clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal get taken, that's a vast amount of money they'll get that could well elevate them out of the reach of anybody else.

I'd assume the 16 would include Man Utd, Man City (arab owners will ensure it), Chelsea, Barca, Real, PSG, Bayern, Juve, Milan, Inter... Not sure who else, depends who the Arab nations own at the time it starts I suspect...

Dortmund would be an almost certainty aswell id imagine.

If its not just European teams then Boca Juniors and River Plate would also be in as they have massive fanbases in South America.

Kaff
13-03-2013, 03:47 PM
Dortmund would be an almost certainty aswell id imagine.

If its not just European teams then Boca Juniors and River Plate would also be in as they have massive fanbases in South America.

Hopefully a hoax:dunno:

@tariqpanja
Full statement from Qatar FA: With regard to the story published in today's edition of The Times newspaper concerning a 'Dreams Football League,' the Qatar Football Association and other Qatari football entities can categorically confirm that we have no involvement in any such initiative and has heard nothing to suggest such a concept is genuine.


F365 then reported this


Interesting story doing the rounds this Wednesday morning. As you may know, The Times went big with their tale of a 'Dream Football League', in which the Qatar royal family would pay £175million to 24 teams from around the world to compete in a summer competition to dwarf the rewards of the Champions League.

It was written by Oliver Kay, a usually reliable hack and one of the more sensible voices on Fleet Street. It was perhaps for this reason that The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Mirror and The Daily Telegraph wrote up the story for their websites, based on Kay's scoop. Hell, even the last great bastion of journalistic integrity F365 carried a version of it.

However, it turns out that it might well be bullsh*t.

The story seems to be based on a 'report' from French magazine Cahiers du Football, which reported the tale on their website three days ago. Indeed, The Times carries a shiny graphic, purporting to be part of the promotional material for the DFL, that seems to be from the original French story.

Yet, the site spent most of Wednesday morning laughing, via their Twitter account, claiming the story to be a hoax. A phantom. A joke.

They said the English press were reporting 'a fantasy', gleefully made assorted claims about where this 'info' had come from (specifically, it seems, their fevered imaginations) and even apologised if those in Doha actually see the story, think it's a good idea and do it for real.

"Everything in this article screams: 'This is fantasy'", Eurosport France's Benoit Vittek said.

"It seems like The Times totally misinterpreted it and then tried to claim those fake news were theirs. Terrible. The details we read from English websites match the ones in Cahiers du Football."

However, Kay himself defended his story, saying on Twitter in response to one 'query' about it: "Nice try. Except that @cahiersdufoot was 100% NOT the source of my story, as I suspect Cahiers (with their "DFL" imagery) know."

GlenrothesHibee
13-03-2013, 03:53 PM
Wonder when Hearts will get their invite?:confused:

Only a matter of time. Big team

MWHIBBIES
13-03-2013, 03:54 PM
Really hope this doesn't happen.

Honestly wouldn't mind if football imploded from top to bottom and had to start all over again, there is so much wrong with modern football, especially at champions league level its frightening.

Kaff
13-03-2013, 04:08 PM
Really hope this doesn't happen.

Honestly wouldn't mind if football imploded from top to bottom and had to start all over again, there is so much wrong with modern football, especially at champions league level its frightening.

Me too.

I think we're in a process of that in Scotland. Rangers in the 3rd division is a symptom of our problems not the catalyst for 'Armageddon' etc they claimed. Too many clubs have historically overspent and then a downturn in revenues has the obvious results.
From now only well run teams will thrive and surely we can benefit.
Also heard a report on radio 5 which gave a figure (can't remember %) for drop in attendances at all levels of non EPL games in England, although they'll still be richer than Scottish clubs the number of these lower league teams plundering good SPL players may also be easing back. Fingers crossed

The_Exile
13-03-2013, 04:18 PM
Celtic should take the invite and then split the 200 million with the rest of us to make the Scottish game competitive as they have always bemoaned the fact it isn't..............WHAT? WHAT??!!! IT COULD HAPPEN!!!!! :greengrin

DH1875
13-03-2013, 05:38 PM
If its not just European teams then Boca Juniors and River Plate would also be in as they have massive fanbases in South America.


:agree::agree::agree: and IF their going by fan base then Benfica have to be in with a shout, although Porto could argue their now the bigger club :dunno:.

Diclonius
13-03-2013, 05:41 PM
Wonder how much ticket prices will start at? £80? £200?

NORTHERNHIBBY
13-03-2013, 06:52 PM
The invited clubs will no doubt leave behind "Colt" teams in their domestic leagues, as that appears to be the clever way forward?