“It opened the eyes of a lot of stakeholders, including new institutions, about what was going on.”

This was how William Martucci described the attempt in April 2021 by some of Europe’s biggest soccer clubs to form a breakaway “Super League.”

Martucci is the Director of Operations for the Union of European Clubs, an organization that was set up to give Europe’s smaller professional soccer clubs a voice. He says this was the moment that many of Europe’s other clubs realized the danger and the need to have their own seat at the table.

Inequality in European soccer is wider than ever. Long gone are the days when the European Cup final could be contested by Nottingham Forest and Malmo; even Porto’s win over Monaco in 2003/04 seems impossible now. The UEFA Champions League and Europa League winners in every year since 2011/12 have come from either Spain, Germany or England. That wasn’t inevitable, it was due to decisions made about how to structure UEFA competitions.

The unequal distribution of wealth from UEFA competitions has also widened the gap between the haves and have-nots in domestic soccer, with some leagues like the top flights in Germany and Austria seeing the same winner for each of the past ten seasons.

Martucci says the key decisions about European competitions are taken by clubs that benefit from a lack of competitive balance, and thus tend to make decisions that go further in that direction.

The Union of European Clubs, which was officially founded in April this year, aims to act as a counterbalance and give Europe’s other clubs a voice. Martucci says more than 120 clubs have signed up so far, with the six executive board members going public, including La Liga side Osasuna and Belgian side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.

Europe’s clubs are currently represented at UEFA by the European Club Association, but its membership is restricted to those clubs in European competition — the clubs that dominate their domestic leagues. There are also subdivisions within the ECA so bigger clubs have more say. Its executive board is dominated by representatives of clubs regularly in the Champions League.

The UEC, on the other hand, is open to all professional clubs in Europe and operates on a “one club, one vote” model. Martucci says that at FIFA and UEFA, every national association has one vote, and that this should be the same when it comes to clubs. Whether or not this is the best solution, it would give a voice to those clubs outside of the ECA.

With the ECA already recognized as representing European club soccer, the UEC’s challenge now is to get a seat at the table. Unsurprisingly, the ECA has been rather dismissive of the UEC, with ECA chairman Nasser El-Khelaifi telling Deutsche Welle that “We’re the only club representation recognized by UEFA and FIFA.” Perhaps pre-empting the Union of European Clubs’ challenge, the European Club Association made several reforms in March which should lead to more clubs having a say in the ECA decision-making.

Martucci is confident that the UEC will get official recognition from UEFA at some point, so long as enough clubs join and show that they want representation. He says that while there’s not been any public communication from UEFA, the UEC’s initiatives are “in line with UEFA’s objectives for the game” and that so far, UEFA “hasn’t tried to stop us in any way.”

As the UEC was set up with the aim of giving every club a voice, it doesn’t really have a manifesto. But it is pushing for more competitive balance in the sport and ensuring that competitions don’t become closed off like the proposed “Super League” would have been.

Martucci mentioned some possible solutions to improve the competitive balance in Europe, such as extending centralized distribution to other areas like sponsorships and ideas like luxury taxes or player quotas, but said that rather than advocating any solution, the UEC is saying that clubs should be allowed to debate these issues and vote for what they want.

The Union of European Clubs will have its first general meeting at the end of the year and aims to have at least 200 clubs on board by then.