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Secrets of the Super League

Now that the cat's out of the bag, the floodgates of information -- and some rumour -- seem to have been thrown wide open.

And every succeeding day brings a new revelation about the much-hyped Super League, proposed to incorporate the leading soccer clubs of Europe in a footballing extravaganza designed to keep both players, and television magnates, happy.

Italian newspaper Tuttosport reports that the Super League will kick off in the year 2000, incorporating the 32 leading clubs of Europe in an extended league format that carries, besides the usual financial incentives, a winner's jackpot of 100 billion lire ($57.3 million).

The 32 teams are to be split into two groups of 16, who will play each other in the home and away league format with the top four sides of each group qualifying for the knockout quarterfinal stage.

Half the teams will be permanent members, the other 16 teams playing on a per-season basis, by invitation.

Even the knockout stage, it is expected, will be based on home and away games, in line with the format now being followed in the European Cup competition.

The 16 permanent clubs are expected to be Inter Milan, Juventus, and AC Milan of Italy; Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool of England; Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund of Germany; Paris St Germain and Olympique Marseille of France; Real Madrid and Barcelona of Spain; Ajax Amsterdam from the Netherlands; Panathinaikos (Greece); Benfica (Portugal) and Anderlecht (Belgium).

Participating teams are expected, according to the Italian newspaper, to earn a minimum of 40 billion lire ($22.7 million) -- which is more than the winner of the European Cup, last season, earned.

While the newspaper story is unsourced, the information therein is believed to be authentic and based on insider knowledge. The Turin-based Tuttosport is owned by the Agnellis, who also control Juventus.

As per the report, the guiding spirits of the Super League will be Rodolfo Hecht, formerly of Italian satellite television company Telepiu, Milan-based marketing company Media Partners.

Tuttosport said the Super League, estimated to be worth 2.0 trillion lire ($1.1 billion) per season in television rights alone, was codenamed "Operation Gandalf".

The organisers plan to link the league to two other competitions -- a ProCup and another as yet-unnamed competition, to replace the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup.

All matches are to be played between Tuesday and Thursday in order to allow premier clubs to continue their participation in the various national championships.