AS TWO of Europe’s most domestically dominant teams, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, kicked off their new seasons in typical marauding fashion, and as Premier League clubs throw their weight around in the transfer market as few others can, the idea of a European Super League was raised again, even if indirectly.

Is the dominance of certain teams in Europe’s top five leagues an argument in favour of a Super League, where these teams are lifted from their domestic league into a more competitive league at a continental level?

And is the Premier League itself already a Super League, given even its newly promoted teams can outspend even some of the top teams elsewhere in Europe?

The answer to both questions is surely No.

Even though Bayern’s and PSG’s dominance has led to the idea they have somehow outgrown Germany and France, their presence is important to those leagues, albeit no more important than the presence of any other team.

Regardless of the system in which they are playing, sporting or economic, some clubs are always more successful than others.

Teams will create dynasties on any playing field, and sports will always foster teams who are successful over a period of time.

Part of sport’s allure is the possibility, no matter how remote, of these dominant teams being brought down a peg or two.

At one time Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea were seen as unbreakable as a Premier League “big four,” but this has had to be extended to six due to Manchester City and Tottenham regularly breaking up those four in subsequent years.

And there are already other teams questioning the definition of the new “big six” as we go into 2023.

During the previous decade in Italian football, it looked impossible for any team to stop Juventus who won nine Serie A titles in a row.

But Internazionale claimed the title in 2021 before their city rivals Milan did so this year.

Even big-spending PSG have seen their dominance interrupted by Monaco (in 2017) and Lille (in 2021).

And in Germany, the biggest stories in recent years have not been Bayern’s dominance.

They have been stories like that of supporter-run Union Berlin, who rose from the threat of bankruptcy to being saved by their supporters in 2004 and eventual promotion to the Bundesliga in 2019.

They were favourites for relegation straight back down to the 2. Bundesliga, but remarkable progress has seen them go in the other direction, qualifying for last season’s Europa Conference League and this season’s Europa League.

They have been stories like SC Freiburg who reached the German Cup final while also qualifying for Europe, and Eintracht Frankfurt who won the Europa League last season.

Though they didn’t directly affect them, Bayern’s presence (without a Super League distraction), along with the presence of every other team in the top division on merit, is important to validate these achievements.

Indeed, Union went unbeaten against Bayern in the league in 2020/21, and this played a part in their rise and their story.

If a more established team like Borussia Dortmund had been able to show some of the characteristics Union and Freiburg have shown, then Bayern may not be on a run of 10 straight league titles.

Back to the English Premier League, there have been suggestions that its spending power — which sees teams throughout the league, even newly promoted ones, attract some of the best players in Europe — means England’s top flight is itself a Super League.

The Premier League might be a rich, bloated hyper-capitalist juggernaut of a league, but a Super League would not allow teams like Brentford or Bournemouth, and maybe not even one-time European Cup winners Nottingham Forest, into its league in the first place.

Competitions can always be skewed by a number of things, and in the current climate that is usually dictated by which team has the most money, but money isn’t always enough.

Teams have shown that, in true Moneyball style, they can bridge the gap between themselves and big-spending opponents by being savvy in other areas.

Brentford and Liverpool have done this to varying degrees in the Premier League, while in Germany, Union Berlin have been flagbearers for the supporter-run club.

They have shown that this type of organisation can bring sporting success, as well as success socially and within the local community.

Unfortunately for the teams in Germany who might have designs on the league title, Bayern are both rich and, for the most part, well-managed.

Bayern, and the groups of fans who often hold their own club to account, probably deserve more praise than they get, rather than being subjected to constant searches for artificial solutions to bring them down.

The closest leagues to the idea of a Super League are those where access is limited, promotion and relegation don’t exist, and competitive, well-run lower-league or community sides are not given the chance to progress in a sporting sense.

One such league is North America’s Major League Soccer (MLS), where new teams have to buy a place in the league, with the most recent expansion team, Charlotte FC, paying over $300 million for their place. 

It could be argued that any team has to invest or buy to gain promotion to a top league, but money alone shouldn’t decide whether or not a team has the right to compete at the top level.

The issue of adding promotion and relegation to soccer in the United States and Canada is a constant topic of discussion.

One recent exchange prompted soccer writer for the Athletic, Pablo Maurer, to sarcastically tweet: “Yeah man! Pro/Rel seems entirely possible in this country, especially if we just, you know, do away with late-stage capitalism or an entire, actual society that has rewarded greed over hard work. It’s as simple as that. Sign me up! Sounds totally realistic!”

Though it comes across as defeatist (hopefully that defeatism is sarcastic too), and the many community-run clubs in the US will continue to fight for the chance to be their country’s Union Berlin, Maurer highlights the systemic problems of capitalism and greed which affect the football and sport as they do society.

A Super League would have been a further example of that greed, and further concentration of football’s wealth, pulling the ladder up as they sit in their safe European home. 

Upcoming changes to the Champions League may see it edge towards becoming a Super League of its own, but that’s no reason to add another. It is a reason to challenge Uefa’s decisions, and continue to push to give teams across Europe an opportunity to participate.

European domestic football in its current state, though not perfect, allows teams from Union Berlin and Brentford, to Liverpool and AC Milan, the chance to compete.

Though that may be within an undesirable economic backdrop of greed and late-stage capitalism, the solution is not to sink further into that backdrop, but to work towards changing the system outside of the sport, around the sport and around its clubs, rather than changing the competitive landscape of the sport itself and further removing the opportunity for all clubs at all levels to exist and compete.