While defending the creation of a 15-club breakaway European Super League yesterday, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said that the move was made because young people are "no longer interested in football."
Yet a YouGov poll of British football fans found that although younger fans (18-39) are more likely than older ones to be interested in watching the new Super League, seven in ten of them are still not interested (71%) in tuning in.
Roughly a quarter of this younger age group indicated interest (24%), but interest dips even further among those 40-64 (21%) and those 65 and over (17%).
"We are doing this to save football at this critical moment," Perez told Spanish TV show El Chiringuito de Jugones. "If we continue with the Champions League there is less and less interest and then it's over.”
The push to a breakaway league includes England’s “big six” clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. From elsewhere in Europe, the founding members of the league include Italian sides AC Milan, Juventus and Inter Milan and Spanish sides Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, and Real Madrid, with three clubs yet to be named.
Looking at British fans of the “big six,” we see slightly higher buy-in. Roughly three in ten are interested in watching a new league (31%), with 35% interest among those 18-39. However, even 58% of this young group say they’re likely to tune out.
Teams in the European Super League hope to continue to compete in their respective national leagues, but the European Super League would effectively compete with the current Champions League.
Related: Football fans overwhelmingly reject European Super League
See full results here
Methodology: YouGov polled 1,730 people. The survey was conducted on 19 April, 2021 between 13:48. and 15:16. Survey was carried out through YouGov Direct. Data is weighted by age, gender, region, social grade, and level of education in United Kingdom.
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