Dutch and Belgian football associations in talks to create cross-border superleague

The Netherlands and Belgium are considering merging their top-flight football leagues to form a new cross-nation competition, i understands. Such a move would be a radical attempt to curb the growing domination of the “big five” European leagues and change the balance of power in continental club football.

Scotland are not believed to be involved in the initial discussions. But Neil Doncaster, the chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League, has previously stated that cross-border football is the “direction of travel”.

A Benelux league has been mooted for decades, with Michel Platini an advocate when he was Uefa president. But the growing financial gulf between Belgian and Dutch clubs, and those in the bigger European leagues, coupled with years of under-performance in European club competition and fears that the nations’ best young players are leaving ever-earlier have led to the concept being explored more seriously.

Cross-border superleague

While talks between Belgium and the Netherlands are in a preliminary stage, it is understood that a new competition has been floated by representatives of the countries. There is a new urgency to the idea as both nations attempt to improve the strength of their domestic competitions.

Read more: European league: How it could work – and what the impact would be on English football

Any new league would need to be voted through by individual clubs, which would be a significant challenge, with opposition from fans likely, and smaller clubs fearful that they would no longer be in the top division. But a new league would expect to generate significant extra cash in domestic and international broadcasting rights, provide a higher standard of football and keep more leading players from Belgium and Netherlands in the countries. Only one member of the Belgium World Cup squad, which reached the semi-finals in the summer, was playing for a Belgian club side.

The Eredivisie, the top Dutch league, is currently discussing a package of measures designed to improve domestic football. A new Benelux league is among the options. If clubs agreed, then formal talks with the Belgium football association could begin next year.

A new Benelux competition would most likely involve nine teams from each of Belgium and the Netherlands. It is also possible that there could be a second division, with sides from Luxembourg included.

Uefa response

Any new competition would need to be supported by Uefa. But the European governing body is concerned about how to protect domestic leagues in smaller countries and is believed to be sympathetic to the notion being explored.

“Domestic competitions are the foundation of football in Europe. Though transnational competitions have been mentioned in some cases, there are currently no concrete proposals on the table,” a Uefa spokesperson told i. “Any such idea or proposal would only be discussed by Uefa if submitted by its national associations, with their clubs and leagues, as this could be a strategic development in some European regions.”

As well as Belgium and the Netherlands, other countries who could in time be attracted to joining cross-nation leagues include Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Scotland. The Scottish Premier League, Celtic and Rangers all declined to comment.

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In recent years the Irn-Bru Cup, the Scottish cup competition for teams below the Scottish Premier League, has been revamped to include teams from Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England. So far, the development is regarded as being a success, and the start of Scotland’s attempts to innovate with cross-border club football. “Whether there is an expansion into cross-border leagues in the future remains to be seen,” said Doncaster of the Scottish Professional Football League.