European Super League: Odds for First Champion and Start Date

If you’re a soccer fan or at least been following the media lately, you know how controversial the news of the new European Super League has been.

For those who are unaware, 12 of the sport’s biggest clubs decided to join together and create the European Super League. Those 12 teams automatically qualify for the tournament every year and don’t have to worry about being relegated or having other teams added.

A lot of fans and experts feel like this negatively affects the integrity of the game because a big part of European leagues has to do with the possibility of being relegated and that any club, regardless of how big or small they are, can win the championship. With the European Super League, the best teams will stay at the top and any smaller club will never have a shot at winning it.

It’s gotten to the point where an organization like UEFA has said that any club or player who participates in the European Super League will be banned from all UEFA and FIFA competition. Other leagues are following suit and it’ll be interesting to see how the participating clubs react if they’re banned from all other leagues.

Until then, Bovada has released odds on who’ll win the first European Super League Championship. As it stands, Manchester City is being favored to win at +600 odds. They finished in second place in the 2019-20 Premier League and are currently in the semi-finals of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League. They’re also at the top of the current Premier League table with a 23-5-4 record and 74 points.

If they’re able to string together some championship victories before the European Super League begins, City’s odds should stay favorable.

Aside from Manchester City, two more of the remaining Champions League have decent odds to win the first European Super League: Real Madrid (+750) and Chelsea (+1400). They’re actually playing each other in the semi-finals, meaning whichever club is victorious over the next couple of weeks could see their odds for the Super League boosted.

As it stands, Barcelona has the second-best odds at +700 to win the league. They’re currently in third place in La Liga with 65 points, trailing both Atletico Madrid (67) and Real Madrid (70). Depending on how that table looks at the end of the season, we could see the Super League odds shift.

Keeping that in mind, the next logistic happens to be figuring out when the European Super League will begin.

While it’s not a huge difference, Bovada is leaning towards the new league starting by the end of 2023 (-130). A lot of factors can go into this start date. For starters, they need to schedule the league around what else is happening in the world of soccer. Venues will have to be booked and there will also be broadcasting deals that need to be reached.

There’s also the fact that nobody knows how the clubs and players that are participating will react to being banned from other leagues. If there’s a legal pushback, that could move the start date further into the future, hence the -110 odds that the European Super League won’t begin before 2023.