Super League Enterprise

SLE

The European Super League (ESL), officially The Super League, is a proposed seasonal football competition for club teams in Europe. Initially, the league was supposed to include 20 teams, with 12 of them being founding members of the competition. The league was created by a commercial enterprise called the European Super League Company. This company aimed to rival the UEFA competitions, such as the Champions League, which is currently Europe's top club tournament.The forthcoming European Super League announcement in April 2021 was met with widespread opposition from various groups. Fans, players, managers, politicians, and other football clubs in England, which had the most teams represented in the project with six teams, all voiced their concerns. The league also faced opposition from UEFA, FIFA, and some national governments.Critics of the league raised concerns about elitism and a lack of competitiveness within the ESL. This was because the league would consist of high-ranking teams from selected European countries who would be permanent contestants in a semi-closed league format, while there were some options for the promotion and relegation of teams inspired in European basketball's EuroLeague. There were also concerns that the ESL would overshadow national leagues in Europe.The backlash against the announcement of the league's plans resulted in nine of the clubs that were supposed to participate, including all six English clubs, announcing their intention to withdraw. However, eight of these clubs remain involved in the project as stakeholders. In April 2021, the ESL announced that it was suspending its operations, and a legal dispute ensued. Courts have ruled that FIFA and UEFA must not interfere with the development of the ESL. However, a final decision by the European Court of Justice is still pending.In October 2022, A22 Sports Management, a company formed to "sponsor and assistant" in the creation of the European Super League, announced it would be relaunching the competition.

Super League Enterprise has been a target of short sellers for a while. The current short interest of 8.57% is significantly above the average of the last 12 months (4.21%).