Super League: The War for Football

It's really hard to mess up a documentary...it's basically just telling the story as it was as it happened or is happening and don't do too much or too little...and you are goood... this show is actually good...it does break one of the cardinal rules that applies to documentaries...it does too much... this was meant to be a movie...or let me say it would have been actualized better as a movie...2hrs 30mins...this story would have been sold very very well... i do get what they're going for however...i get the artistic choice here...it's a story about individuals at heart...and so we have to understand each individual intimately...it just ends up affecting the quality of the storytelling... where it does too much is showing us unnecessary bits...we get up with a character drive 2hrs with him and prepare for a meeting attend the meeting and make a speech with a character...it's a great to immerse the audience in the world of the character...but is it really necessary... i don't even know why I'm using character when it's a documentary...i guess just want to address what i call "the breaking bad syndrome"...what the shows breaking bad and better call saul did...over-indulging the audience...it slows down the plot... the first episode is very very intriguing...it's an excellent pilot episode...sets the tone and it is full of suspense and tension...the 3rd episode is probably the worst...it's supposed to set up the last episode but it just ends up beating around goes nowhere and just feels like all of it is filler... watchable...but with alot of fast-forwarding...it's telling a great interesting story though...

A good documentary shows both sides and leaves room for the grey between black and white. That's not the case. The formation of a super league has some merit. In the USA all major sports are organized in super leagues, F1 is a super league, so it can't be all bad. The actual reason UEFA (or Ceferin) is against the plan, isn't because they have the noble, everlasting spirit of soccer in mind. The moment the SL starts, UEFA will lose all power and will face bankruptcy because UEFA's main cash cow, the Champions League will be doomed without the major clubs. The past years UEFA's course was one of pleasing the few big clubs in favor of the many smaller ones. Their permanent objective: to be wealthier and more powerful than FIFA. In that struggle all is allowed and UEFA sold his soul to the gods of capitalism many times. This kind of nuance is lost in this series and that makes it a well made commercial.

There are not much thing to say about this document. There ais mostly one side perspective from this orgination without seeing why is this happend in the first place. They describe the UEFA president like angel coming to save football. But it is true? The same kind of corruption system is still exiting. There is nothing change where all the club is strugger for survival. These both organization getting money year in year out without doing much thing to keep the game somehow "fair". It's still funny to me that the PSG president also good guys here. In the end, you can skip this document for good. Just so that they might have something else in second season!

It might feel biased towards some of the actors in the big story and regardless the fact that UEFA is not perfect and have actually many issues the reality is clear and the ESL is a very dodgy project which only interest is to rescue the unsustainable business model of three clubs. The series is very good fun to watch, it has lots of drama and reveal details that where not available in the media during the car crash. And at the end it just shows how greedy the whole football institution is around the world. This is no about the game, this is not about the community. It is a power game but I personally I much rather be on Uefa's side than on the corrupt Mr perez.

The documentary is in favor of UEFA and does not explain in length the reasons behind the Super League as seen by the interested clubs. The levels of corruption we have seen (so far) all over FIFA and their local federations (Concacaf, Conmebol, UEFA, etc.) is just overwhelming. There is a lack of transparency from the many players in what now is a multi billion (perhaps even trillion) business, that is very difficult from the outside to make clear opinions, as there is a lack of understanding, information, and transparency. Things are getting out of hands, an example of it was the Spanish Supercup. A National cup, originally played between the winners of the the Spanish League and the Copa del Rey, now, a small tournament played by the top two (winner and runner up) on foreign soil! I mean, How much is Saudi Arabia paying UEFA, the Spanish Federation, teams, and everyone involved. The quality of the show was ok, some good shots, great sound, and generally good, sad that it was more of an ad than a full fledge documentary.

This documentary is basically a paid promotion to UEFA. You get a basic idea about that happened, but you always feel that what you are seeing is just a love letter to UEFA and not what real happened. Never forget that when you spell UEFA with just one word you write corruption and all of this supposed "war" was just to keep the corruption going on a bit longer. When someone claims they were betrayed and next explained they did the exact same thing they are complaining about they lose all the credibility. This was a lost opportunity to explain what really happened since you only get to see one side. Not that the documentary doesn't show "the other side", because you get to meet a few people who fought against UEFA but they almost don't get to expose their side and they are surrounded by people trying to change your point of view so that you see them as "the bad guys". Well, history is written by its winners and this is just another example of that. In the end football lost and UEFA got to keep the corruption system in place.

History is written by the winners as they say. I do feel this is more political documentary in favor of UFEA than an impartial approach. I was not a fan of the super league and believe in the big clubs paying it down to grass roots. I'm glad the fans won, not UFEA as it does feel like they have monopoly. Fair play is a joke and them controlling and being their regulators is a bit crazy. I do respect a lot of the people in the program that stood up to stop it and thank them, whatever their motivation. It's an ok documentary, but leaves you with a lot of questions. It's worth a watch, but go in with an open mind as it does try to sway you each way as it goes along. It's also missing some rather important interviews and data.

source:season-1 episode-4

source:season-1 episode-3

source:season-1 episode-2