Reported ‘Dream League’ in Qatar to Offer £175m to World’s Largest Football Clubs
March 13, 2013
The Qatari Royal Family will bankroll a new football tournament in their home country that will see the biggest football clubs in the world earn a staggering £175m each.
According to a report in The Times, the Dream Football League (DFL) will involve 24 teams and would be staged in the blistering Qatari summer heat every two years, although the Qatari FA have denied the reports.
Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain are amongst the clubs who have been reported as likely targets for the tournament and the massive financial package the Royal Family are offering.
European Champions League winners Chelsea earned £47.3m for their victory over Bayern Munich last year, putting into perspective the enormous financial gain the tournament would provide.
And to add further perspective, sports law expert, Daniel Geey of Field Fisher Waterhouse, told iSportconnect: “At the moment, these are just newspaper reports. Should the proposal actually move forward into a more tangible proposition, then it is not hard to see with the money on offer why clubs will give serious consideration to such a tournament.
“If Manchester United are offered £175m to play in a two week tournament, that is more than they would earn this season for winning the Premier League and Champions League combined.”
Geey also highlighted the damage the DFL could do to the competiveness of domestic leagues. “Invitations only for the top teams could have serious repercussions for competitive balance in domestic leagues,” said Geey.
“That is certainly something that UEFA and FIFA will have to consider at length as no doubt they would have to sanction the potential event.”
The DFL would kick off in 2015 and would be used as a platform to build the sports image in the country, ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
League organisers hope to have 16 permanent teams, with eight clubs from around the world being invited each year.
This is seen as a possible challenger to the Champions League and it already has backing in Europe; from Qatar Sports Investment (QSI), who own PSG.
The Qatari FA, however, have put pay to any proposal.
They released a statement which read: “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.”
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