Originally Posted by
NeverFeltBetter
How much leverage do UEFA and the FA's actually have here? The bombast of the official responses yesterday - though not from FIFA, rather interestingly - strikes me as a bit of desperation. I'd say some of the people behind this ESL wouldn't actually mind saying goodbye to their national leagues, being then able to pivot to the NFL model of a season totally, where they play 16 competitive games in a season and a few "play-offs" if they are successful, along with a few pre-season friendlies. Real "event" style calendar. If they stay in their national leagues, they won't be taking them seriously.
What does that leave UEFA/the FA's in terms of a response? Banning players from national teams? Even if that stuck, which I don't think it would, are we certain that it would be the magic bullet some are acting like it is? I'd say a lot of players would take a big paycheque and then the stance of "I'm playing to my value and level for my club, I want to play for my country, it's UEFA who won't let me, blame them".