The Netherlands and Belgium are planning a revolution in European football. The Dutch Eredivisie and the Belgian Jupiler Pro League are in talks to merge their leagues to create a new 18 team league, according to a report by the German magazine kicker.
"We cannot ignore the new reality," Club BruggeCEO Bart Verhaeghe said to kicker. "Sooner or later, there will be a European Super League with games between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on Sundays."
The consulting company Deloitte has calculated that a so-called BeNe League could generate in the region of €400 million a year in television revenue. In comparison, both the Dutch and Belgium top leagues earn about €80 million a season in television revenue at the moment.
A merger would create the sixth-largest league by television revenue, behind England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France. The Deloitte study was commissioned by Gent, Club Brugge, KRC Genk, RSC Anderlecht, and Standard Liège from Belgium and Ajax, AZ Alkmaar, Utrecht, Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven and Vitesse.
The eleven top clubs want a league with 18 teams, ten from the Netherlands and eight from Belgium. Those numbers would remain stable with the two lowest-ranked teams from each country to be relegated at the end of the season, replaced by the respective national champions.
Some questions remain, however. Fans would be required to travel greater distances—although distances within Belgium and the Netherlands would still be small in comparison to other European countries. "We are not enthusiastic," Matthijs Keuning from the Dutch Supporters said. "A lot of questions, very few answers," Eddy Janssis from Belgian Supporters added.
Another question is what will happen to UEFA spots. Would the league be categorized as a single national championship, or would the two countries continue to send their respective national representatives?
Finally, Twente Enschede, the fourth most popular club by fan volume in the Netherlands, were not part of any talks, and not surprising upset with the talks. The same can be said about club officials from Sparta Rotterdam, Heracles Almelo, and Heerenveen, who were also opposed to a potential merger.
And UEFA? The European football governing body has not yet been presented with plans for a potential merger and will not comment at the time.
Discuss Dutch Eredivisie/Jupiler Pro League (Merge) in the World Football area at TalkCeltic.net.
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MickeyyMack CELTIC GLASGOW OK
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After the Belgium/Netherlands merger proposal, I've been thinking about how Celtic could propose a merger that makes sense themselves. In order for this to happen, we'd have to rethink football seasons.
So here is my proposal.
*We keep the Scottish Premiership and reduce it to 10 clubs.
*Each Scottish Premiership club plays each other twice. (That's 19 games a season)
*The season runs from August - December
*The top 2 earn promotion to the Cross Border European League. Which could involve for example Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium Scotland. Who also reduce their top flight to 10 clubs. 2 from each league gain promotion.
*The bottom team plays a play-off with the second tier.
*The August - December season determines qualification to UEFA Europa League / Champions League.
An Example of the European Super League
Celtic
Rangers
Ajax
PSV Eindhoven
Malmo
Elfsborg
Anderlecht
Genk
Brondby
FC Copenhagen
*This season runs from January - May
*Clubs play each other twice, 19 games.
*The Winners are crowned European Super League Champion
*During the January-May season, The Scottish Premiership continues, so in this instance, it would be without Celtic & Rangers. And a new Scottish champion would be crowned for the first time other than Celtic/Rangers since 1980s.
An example Scottish Premiership during this time.
Kilmarnock (Champion)
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Aberdeen
Hibernian
Dundee United
St Mirren
Hearts
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Motherwell (Team plays play off with second tier)
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Livingston (relegation)
St Johnstone (relegation)
Ross County (relegation)
*There is no promotion to the Super League during the January - May season. It has to be earned in the August - December season.
*There is no qualification to UEFA Europa league / Champions league, during this period.
*After the Super League is finished, clubs like Celtic and Rangers then go back to their respective national leagues. And once again have to earn promotion to the "European Super League".
*The Winners are crowned Scottish Premiership champions.
Benefits
*Celtic play 38 league games over this period. (Similar to EPL).
*Rather than playing the same 11 clubs each year, Celtic actually play 19 different clubs.
*National leagues are kept.
*A new league champion is guaranteed each season. Bringing success to other clubs that wouldn't normally have a chance.
*Clubs can still play Europa League / Champions League football.
*An extra trophy. Celtic could still be crowned Scottish Premiership champions and European Super League champions within a 'normal season' period.
What are peoples thoughts on that? -
StPauli1916 Gold Member Gold Member
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My first thought on the idea and any European league would be the financial impact on the fans that attend games. That is 8 extra European trips you are asking folk to find the money for. -
understandable.
However, I think if Cross Border football is inevitable. Then a solution to have 8 extra away games to Europe, is better than say 16. -
ILoveTheCeltic
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Mad how bad Ajax have got recently when they've started spending bigger money than they used to. Seem to have got worse every season for about 4 year now.
Their Starting XI today cost them about £100million with another about £50million worth of signings on the bench and they're doing even worse than last season which was probably their worst season in 15 year. -
Westlondonscot Gold Member Gold Member
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They spent quite a few years coming second and third to develop the squad that dominated, bringing them in young or developing from the academy. Developing to fit a philosophy and system. Trying to buy ready made players to fit a system is a whole different thing and they aren't good at it. -
In other words their starting 11 cost the sale of 1 single winger to United. Even their biggest transfer flop signing Bassey they recouped what they paid for him by some absolute miracle.
They’ll come good again, they are probably the most cyclical team in Europe with their model which when you take a step back and analyse isn’t the worst thing.Hammy89 likes this. -
Westlondonscot Gold Member Gold Member
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Probably true. They did spend badly last year though, very bsdly. They sold their best last summer, plenty in 1 big go and they didn't know what to do. They'd prepared players to take over and they hadn't prepared for last summer. I expected them to bounce back this year. -
Spending badly isn’t as much of an issue when you’re spending net -100 million quid in the window though.
Last season Antony, Martinez, Gravenberch and Haller went for over 200 million. That’s where Celtic want to be and why Ajax are the model all clubs like ours envy.aliceinsound likes this. -
Westlondonscot Gold Member Gold Member
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It's still an issue, especially as they don't appear to have spent well this season either. they were from a team competing in Europe and controlling domestic football to a bit of a shambles. It was an opportunity to bring in some talent and it was failure. -
McChiellini..
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Feyenoord 1 up at Ajax..
Ripped apart and that Gimenez is a problem..Last edited: Sep 24, 2023 -
McChiellini..
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Giving it away again and Gimenez turns the defender inside out and scores again.. -
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McChiellini..
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3 nil and no even 40 minutes in and been a lengthy stoppage..
Ripped to shreds again. A woeful outfit..
I had this both teams to score as well :giggle1:
Doesn't look likely. Game over, stick on the Arsenal game now.. -
neilly1987 Do I look happy? Do I look settled? Gold Member
What's the deal are Feyenoord actually good or is the rest of their league just poor?
This is probably the questions folk ask on other forums when they see us pumping teams domestically :giggle1: -
Ooft. We only lost by 2 and were away and we're reduced to 9 men.
McChiellini.. and neilly1987 like this. -
Westlondonscot Gold Member Gold Member
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The Dutch league isn't great, PSV, Feyenoord and AZ however are pretty good. Ajax are pretty * this season, and I imagine they sack their manager in the morning as today will leave them 10 behind. -
What makes me laugh is everyone especially the media are making out Feyenoord are pish, whilst Huns were up against a Super Dutch team, lol.
Hammy89 likes this. -
Match stopped again
Ajax fans determined to get this called offneilly1987 likes this. -
Westlondonscot Gold Member Gold Member
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If it gets a abandoned I can see Feyenoord get awarded it.
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