Helmed by All Rise Films’ Jeff Zimbalist, Super League The War For Football is a four-part docuseries that premiered on AppleTV+ on January 13, 2023, revealing an off-field political reality foregrounding one of the most loved sports in the world. Zimbalist also stands as one of the executive producers, along with Libby Geist and Connor Schell of Words + Pictures.
The official description of the AppleTV+ series reads:
Super League: The War for Footballis a four-part series that documents the high stakes battle that is set off when plans for a breakaway league emerge and the past, present and future of European football collide, leaving the game’s most powerful leaders to defend, or upend, the traditions of the sport.
-Super League The War For Football Review Contains Mild Spoilers-
The four chapters chronicling the four decisive days in the formation of the Super League, followed by its eventual downfall, have been fleshed out as an endless match of a chess game rather than football in the docuseries. It follows an invigorating and astounding series of ‘Et Tu Brute’ moments of betrayals, rebellious breakaways, and questioning the power play cementing the sport’s business which has turned reality into a thriller.
“Football is a community”. The first episode begins with this resounding reminder. However, the series itself is not so much about the sport as it is about a different game of capitalism happening behind the scenes, which, too, brought the fans with varying club alliances together, not in the stadiums, but rather on the streets. With the Premier League standing at the apex of the pyramid of success, the pre-existing system of the “people’s game” allowed each team a fair and equal opportunity to rise to the top on the sheer basis of its performance and merit. In this way, the local teams are also provided with a platform to kick their way through, from the bottom to where they aspire to reach.
Aleksander Ceferin, the current President of EUFA, has continued to retain the foundation of this hierarchy based on equality and opportunity. However, the breakaway planned by the elite clubs of the game, like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and more, sought to hamper that construct or “evolve” the sport by extending the pinnacle and reserving it for the apex predators, with grounds open for interpretation, but only so much.
Other than the obvious scenes of the “War for football”, the series takes us through a more personal edge of its reality with Andrea Agnelli’s (the former Chairman of Juventus football club) up-close personal relationship with Ceferin (him being the godfather of Agnelli’s child) and its underlying impact on their professional front as well.
The background score pushes the documentary’s image as a thriller flick, especially powered by their association with each other and deliberately building on the precise details of the account. In this manner, it prepares the viewer for the build-up of the impending suspenseful crescendo, awaiting to crash out its twists and turns.
Guido Vaciago, the Tuttosport Journalist, speaks highly of the Super League as being a “blockbuster” as opposed to the Champions League, which “offers you a couple of blockbusters in a year” while undergoing a “boring phase when they just put out some obscure movie with subtitle”. The paradox in the statement is evident beyond measure. While remembering to call it all a movie, especially in a world where underdogs are dearly loved in films, but possibly, in his vision of reality, the same sentiment doesn’t extend to the underdogs of the real world.
Again a similar irony is noted in Florentino Perez’s (President of Real Madrid F.C.) statements, in which, he highlights the need for a more prosperous and “universal” side to the game when it seemingly isn’t. It leads you to ponder how one could call something “universal” on the global platform by cutting off all ends and restricting the power play between supreme parties. Nevertheless, the series doesn’t limit its alliance with Ceferin; rather, it posits both sides of the coin, assigning enough timeframe for the Super League promoters to settle their case as well.
The political drama of the sport’s legislation unfolds with an appropriate dramatical envisioning of the reality onscreen to keep audiences hooked while relaying the truth of the ‘Machiavellian’ plot. Thereby proving that the “blockbusters” were confirmed not so much for the sport or its audience but for the owners of these clubs who believe their progress and the “evolution of the game” to be synonymous with entertainment and cashing in on their teams, perceiving them to be their personal “ATM machines”.
Each narration must be taken with a pinch of salt because they’re all unreliable. On the other hand, Aleksander’s persona is essentially built up as the people’s hero, sitting right at the centre of the action as the moral ground, thus pushing us to root for him and the “people’s game” even more. ‘Sportswashing’ is also strategically introduced into the mix, shedding light on some elite teams’ ostensible ‘philanthropic’ giving on the surface while erasing the same sense of representation within the competition.
In the second half of the series, the episodes take a more pro-Super League stance, questioning the monopoly established by UEFA and FIFA. It further pushes the UEFA President onto the hot seat, where severe questions are raised against him surrounding his seat of power. While this two-sided balanced exchange (though fuelled by unreliability) compels you to think about who the real hero is, it also reaffirms the fight against capitalistic gains with Ceferin at the focus, regardless of what his true motives may be.
Super League The War For Football: Final Thoughts
Right off the bat, before clicking on the play button, you should know that this series is not about the titular sport. If you’re hoping to catch some of the most legendary kickoffs of the game, then you need something else. Nevertheless, you should stick around to peak into the politics that foregrounds the game you dearly love.
What fans find to be an immensely cathartic show of sportsmanship on the field is backed up by money-making pillars, flushed with powers sitting at the top, for whom, the game itself is the last priority on their sheet of agendas.
All 4 episodes of Super League: The War For Football is now streaming on AppleTV+.
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