# We Fixed The Super League(M4A_128K)

An episode of [Footbal Beyond the Pitch](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6821032841), 15 Oct 2026, 23 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75801394/we_fixed_the_super_league_m4a_128k.mp3

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## Transcript

[0:06] Speaker 1: When plans for a European Super League were announced, they
[0:09] Speaker 1: were met by a backlash of enormous scrutiny. It was,
[0:13] Speaker 1: by all accounts, a PR disaster. But, as the old
[0:16] Speaker 1: saying goes, there are no such things as bad ideas,
[0:20] Speaker 1: just bad executions. Hello, I'm Adam Leventhal, and on this
[0:25] Speaker 1: TIFO video, we are going to be setting the team
[0:29] Speaker 1: a challenge to rebrand the European Super League, but just
[0:33] Speaker 1: try and.
[0:34] Speaker 2: Do it a bit better.
[0:36] Speaker 3: Yeah!
[0:38] Speaker 4: It's the European Super League!
[0:41] Speaker 5: It's super! And eagle!
[0:43] Speaker 1: Yeah! Hi. OK, gentlemen, your task today is quite simple.
[1:11] Speaker 1: To rebrand the European Super League. Some people weren't fans
[1:16] Speaker 1: of the original branding of the Super League. As you
[1:19] Speaker 1: can see here, the website and logo are fairly simple
[1:22] Speaker 1: and perhaps don't match the blockbuster impact of the league's launch. So,
[1:27] Speaker 1: to rectify this, the team need to do four things.
[1:30] Speaker 1: Design a logo, write a tagline, build a website and
[1:34] Speaker 1: film a 30-second video. They're not allowed any help and
[1:38] Speaker 1: must each complete this task separately and alone. Now, have
[1:42] Speaker 1: you all got that?
[1:44] Speaker 4: Yes.
[1:45] Speaker 6: Sure.
[1:46] Speaker 3: Can I ask a question?
[1:47] Speaker 7: No.
[1:49] Speaker 1: To do this... It's very strict. You have eight... Oh
[1:54] Speaker 1: my God. Eight hours starting from now. So get outside
[2:00] Speaker 1: and get going. Come on, don't waste any time. Let's go.
[2:03] Speaker 2: Can I actually ask one question?
[2:05] Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead.
[2:06] Speaker 2: Are we allowed any help with this or do we
[2:09] Speaker 2: have to do this?
[2:12] Speaker 1: No, you can do it all by yourself, okay?
[2:14] Speaker 3: Has this been designed to humiliate me? Well, that sounds horrible.
[2:23] Speaker 8: I don't know how to do any of those things.
[2:26] Speaker 8: Summer action is just dread, dread, dread.
[2:29] Speaker 2: I'm not worried.
[2:32] Speaker 5: I'm quite looking forward to this. I'm ambivalent about football,
[2:35] Speaker 5: but I really like graphic design, so I'm looking forward
[2:38] Speaker 5: to getting my teeth into it. The only problem is
[2:40] Speaker 5: I probably don't have time to go to a library.
[2:43] Speaker 9: Yeah, I think this could be quite fun, quite funny.
[2:45] Speaker 9: It's a whole eight hours, like a whole day of work.
[2:47] Speaker 9: I don't want to have to do that. So I'll
[2:49] Speaker 9: just do something quick.
[2:55] Speaker 3: Thank you.
[3:19] Speaker 1: Uh, progress.
[3:20] Speaker 3: I got the concept.
[3:22] Speaker 8: My video still looks like it was designed by a child,
[3:27] Speaker 8: but we're getting there. I've spent most of my time
[3:29] Speaker 8: learning how to do things and less of it actually
[3:32] Speaker 8: doing things.
[3:33] Speaker 1: Okay, Joe, out of all the contestants, you look to
[3:36] Speaker 1: be particularly in control. Just tell us what you're up
[3:39] Speaker 1: to at the moment.
[3:40] Speaker 2: Well, I'm working on a lot of conceptual stuff at
[3:42] Speaker 2: the moment. I find that the practical work is very
[3:44] Speaker 2: easy and that comes later, normally in three or four minutes,
[3:46] Speaker 2: so For the time being, I'm thinking about branding. I
[3:49] Speaker 2: know that it's a skill that matches interpretation and experience,
[3:53] Speaker 2: and I'm particularly inspired by the work of On Kawara.
[3:55] Speaker 2: So I'm using his experience with space and symbolism, and
[3:59] Speaker 2: I'm really digging down into this one. I'm having a
[4:00] Speaker 2: groovy time, Adam.
[4:02] Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm teasing, yeah.
[4:07] Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a bit tense.
[4:09] Speaker 5: I went down a kind of Oskar Schleimer 1922 Stuttgart
[4:12] Speaker 5: research hole and I don't think I'm going to have
[4:15] Speaker 5: enough time. I'm also worried that I'm not going to
[4:17] Speaker 5: have enough space.
[4:18] Speaker 9: My aim is just to have a bit of fun
[4:20] Speaker 9: with it, make everyone else laugh. I wouldn't do this
[4:25] Speaker 9: if it was an actual presentation, like a real thing.
[4:27] Speaker 9: Like if someone was looking at it, I wouldn't do that.
[4:29] Speaker 9: But yeah, it's got an eagle in it, I like them.
[4:33] Speaker 1: Okay, so time is pressing. Now listen to this. What
[4:36] Speaker 1: the Tifo contestants don't know is that they're going to
[4:40] Speaker 1: have to present their rebranding strategy to our panel of experts.
[4:44] Speaker 1: Let's meet them now. Our first expert is Ridley Arkansas,
[4:49] Speaker 1: a graphic designer, art director and co-founder of the creative
[4:53] Speaker 1: agency Scaredy Cat in East London. Our second expert is
[4:58] Speaker 1: Sinead Bunting, marketing director at The Athletic, one of the
[5:02] Speaker 1: best companies in the world. follow me gents okay your
[5:13] Speaker 1: time is almost up here we go five four three
[5:21] Speaker 1: two one I'm Adam Leventhal your time is up gents
[5:27] Speaker 1: step away from your laptops step away.
[5:30] Speaker 8: Step away and now.
[5:34] Speaker 1: It's time for the Tifo football team to present their
[5:37] Speaker 1: European Super League rebranding to our experts to find out
[5:42] Speaker 1: who's got the best ideas and who is completely and
[5:46] Speaker 1: utterly hopeless. The contestants have had eight hours to prepare
[5:50] Speaker 1: their presentations and now it's in to the lion's den.
[5:59] Speaker 1: Right then, let's head in.
[6:02] Speaker 2: Here we go.
[6:11] Speaker 1: So here we are. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Adam Leventhal.
[6:15] Speaker 1: Welcome to Tifo's European Super League Rebrand Showcase. Four candidates
[6:22] Speaker 1: will present their alternative strategies featuring a new logo, tagline, website,
[6:30] Speaker 1: and 30-second advert to boot. So who will be our winner?
[6:36] Speaker 1: Who has rebranded the Super League the best?
[6:47] Speaker 2: William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the
[6:51] Speaker 2: Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honourable actions
[6:55] Speaker 2: are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised
[7:00] Speaker 2: and overcome with answerable courage. In this capsule history of
[7:05] Speaker 2: our progress teaches us anything, it is that man in
[7:07] Speaker 2: his quest for knowledge and progress is determined and cannot
[7:11] Speaker 2: be deterred. We choose to go to the moon. We
[7:15] Speaker 2: choose to go to the moon in this decade, not
[7:17] Speaker 2: because it is easy, but because it is hard. Because
[7:21] Speaker 2: that goal will serve to organize and measure the best
[7:24] Speaker 2: of our energies and skills. Because that challenge is one
[7:27] Speaker 2: that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling
[7:30] Speaker 2: to postpone, and one which we intend to win many
[7:35] Speaker 2: years ago the great British explorer George Mallory who was
[7:39] Speaker 2: to die on Mount Everest was asked why did he
[7:42] Speaker 2: want to climb it he said because it is there
[7:47] Speaker 2: I give you the Super.
[7:49] Speaker 1: League Thank you for watching.
[8:50] Speaker 2: A round of applause would be good. Oh, thank you.
[8:54] Speaker 6: Thank you very much.
[8:55] Speaker 2: Thank you. Yes, thank you. Now, as you can see here,
[8:58] Speaker 2: this is my European Super League logo that I have
[9:02] Speaker 2: designed myself. On the other side here as well, you
[9:05] Speaker 2: can see my slogan, It's inevitable. Now, our research showed,
[9:09] Speaker 2: when we were studying for this, that the audience feeling
[9:12] Speaker 2: that the European Super League was evitable was a direct
[9:15] Speaker 2: contribution to its demise. So we wanted to leave the
[9:18] Speaker 2: audience under no illusions. Nothing can be done to stop this.
[9:22] Speaker 2: And here also you can see the typeface that we
[9:25] Speaker 2: have chosen, ESL. Our typeface is inspired by Soviet designs
[9:29] Speaker 2: of the 20th century, designs largely inspired by the German prototype, Ebergrotesk, Ebergrotesk.
[9:37] Speaker 2: It was important for us to source a typeface reminiscent
[9:40] Speaker 2: of pre-Bauhaus modernism in order to avoid portraying the friendliness
[9:45] Speaker 2: of most modern designs. Our typeface portrays strength, of course,
[9:49] Speaker 2: but the italicization does allow for a twist of spice.
[9:53] Speaker 2: I didn't make a website because the European Super League,
[9:57] Speaker 2: it broke all the rules when it attempted to launch before,
[9:59] Speaker 2: and it will do so again. This is a rebellious league,
[10:03] Speaker 2: and therefore we felt that the branding for it also
[10:06] Speaker 2: should break the rules by not making a website. So
[10:11] Speaker 2: I don't have one.
[10:12] Speaker 4: So you didn't actually finish the brief you were given
[10:15] Speaker 4: for the presentation?
[10:16] Speaker 2: Well, conceptually, conceptually I did.
[10:18] Speaker 5: Well, actually.
[10:21] Speaker 2: Well, conceptually, I did.
[10:22] Speaker 6: Sure.
[10:22] Speaker 4: You didn't actually.
[10:25] Speaker 3: OK.
[10:25] Speaker 6: That was my question.
[10:26] Speaker 3: Sure.
[10:26] Speaker 1: Is that.
[10:26] Speaker 6: That's it.
[10:27] Speaker 5: Thank you.
[10:27] Speaker 1: OK. Joe, thank you. Our next contender is Mr JJ Ball.
[10:45] Speaker 9: APPLAUSE this is my presentation for the European Super League
[10:53] Speaker 9: which as you can see is the best league didn't
[10:59] Speaker 9: know there's a presentation next this is my logo European
[11:06] Speaker 9: looks quite European this has subscriptions important sophisticated for you
[11:18] Speaker 9: sophisticated okay my tagline for the Super League Super League
[11:30] Speaker 9: is the best league here's some important things I posted
[11:40] Speaker 9: as you can see I posted here feeling blessed recap
[11:45] Speaker 9: the Super League is the best league because it's good
[11:50] Speaker 9: it has all the best clubs and the sophisticated as
[11:55] Speaker 9: you may remember from this and now I'd like to
[12:00] Speaker 9: present to you please a video and when I say
[12:03] Speaker 9: I'd like to present to you I don't really want
[12:07] Speaker 9: to do The Super League is the best league. It's
[12:11] Speaker 9: better than all of the other leagues. It's in Europe
[12:15] Speaker 9: and it's got all.
[12:16] Speaker 6: The best players.
[12:17] Speaker 1: The Super League is the best league.
[12:20] Speaker 3: The Beckham Stride.
[12:23] Speaker 9: They got a Beckham Stride.
[12:25] Speaker 1: In the Super League. You should all watch the Super League.
[12:28] Speaker 9: Because it's got all the best players like the Master League.
[12:32] Speaker 1: It's the Super League.
[12:33] Speaker 5: Yeah!
[12:34] Speaker 6: Come on!
[12:37] Speaker 9: Hi, I'm JJ Boo.
[12:39] Speaker 1: The Super League is good.
[12:42] Speaker 9: Any questions?
[12:45] Speaker 4: How long did that take you?
[12:49] Speaker 9: I had to expand it when I learned that you
[12:52] Speaker 9: were going to be part of this presentation, which again,
[12:55] Speaker 9: I didn't know I had to do. So how long
[12:59] Speaker 9: did that take you? I would say a total 45 minutes.
[13:12] Speaker 8: Okay, so I'm going to talk about the logo, the tagline,
[13:17] Speaker 8: run through the presentation and a little bit of a video.
[13:20] Speaker 8: To start in the obvious place, what is the Super League?
[13:24] Speaker 1: Well, it's a threat.
[13:25] Speaker 8: It always has been. It's always been the thing that
[13:28] Speaker 8: lurks in the dark in European football. So the obvious
[13:30] Speaker 8: point to start is to reassure people it is not
[13:33] Speaker 8: replacing anything. It is adding on to a game that
[13:37] Speaker 8: we love. It's changing the things within it which could
[13:41] Speaker 8: be improved upon.
[13:42] Speaker 1: So, the logo.
[13:44] Speaker 8: So, first of all, for the reassurance, we've included a star.
[13:47] Speaker 3: Star is associated with the Champions League, the World Cup.
[13:51] Speaker 3: It's something people are familiar with.
[13:52] Speaker 8: We're trying to create something which is better in every
[13:55] Speaker 8: sense of the word. Super League ticket, no Super League
[13:57] Speaker 8: ticket will ever.
[13:58] Speaker 5: Cost more than 50 euros. 50% of the £ 380 million.
[14:01] Speaker 3: In 2018 will go to the central fund. What if
[14:14] Speaker 3: football wasn't so greedy? What if its stadiums weren't crumbling?
[14:20] Speaker 3: Its clubs weren't going out of business? What if school
[14:24] Speaker 3: children could find a pitch to play on? What if
[14:27] Speaker 3: money was invested in their futures? What if criminals and
[14:31] Speaker 3: money launders were locked outside? What if there was no
[14:35] Speaker 3: place for human rights abusers? What if it understood its
[14:39] Speaker 3: obligations and knew when to take a stand? Any questions?
[14:48] Speaker 6: Do you understand the concept of rebranding something that exists already?
[14:54] Speaker 3: I certainly do.
[14:55] Speaker 6: Because what you seem to be, correct me if I'm wrong,
[14:57] Speaker 6: what you seem to be sort of reinventing the concept
[15:00] Speaker 6: and the structure of the Super League rather than coming
[15:03] Speaker 6: up for a campaign for something that already exists.
[15:06] Speaker 8: Glad you asked that.
[15:07] Speaker 3: Seb.
[15:17] Speaker 7: Seb.
[15:18] Speaker 5: Thank you, sir.
[15:21] Speaker 1: To Alex Stewart, our next and final contender on this,
[15:26] Speaker 1: the European Super League rebrand.
[15:35] Speaker 5: Thank you very much. So I've taken as my inspiration here,
[15:41] Speaker 5: the Bauhaus movement, which Joe's already alluded to. It's a
[15:46] Speaker 5: modernist design movement It's kind of pan-European. It speaks to
[15:51] Speaker 5: everybody through the unity of form and function. Football is good,
[15:56] Speaker 5: but we want football better. And that's what the European
[16:00] Speaker 5: Super League will deliver. Better matches, better supporter experience, and
[16:03] Speaker 5: better wealth generation for the football pyramid. This is not
[16:09] Speaker 5: the logo. I just made a poster because I had
[16:12] Speaker 5: some spare time. These reflect the livery of the various
[16:16] Speaker 5: founder clubs. So here's the first logo. Again, nice, bold,
[16:23] Speaker 5: geometric patterns in keeping with what Bauhaus stands for. European
[16:28] Speaker 5: Super League there. It's very strong, it's very assertive, but
[16:33] Speaker 5: it's not too complicated. It's something that I feel, branding-wise,
[16:37] Speaker 5: we'll be able to work across a variety of different formats.
[16:39] Speaker 5: It's very straightforward. It would work on a T-shirt. Before
[16:43] Speaker 5: we go to the video, I'd just like to say
[16:47] Speaker 5: the inspiration for this video, again, was Bauhaus. I got very,
[16:50] Speaker 5: very into Oskar Schlemmer, his work in 1922 in Stuttgart
[16:55] Speaker 5: with the Triadischer Ballet. I think this really conveys the
[17:01] Speaker 5: European Super League's emotional commitment to football and to the
[17:06] Speaker 5: fan experience. So yeah, hopefully the inspiration for that was
[17:43] Speaker 5: very clear. I probably should have got my arms the
[17:48] Speaker 5: other way around. But yeah, I think that says what
[17:54] Speaker 5: I want to say.
[17:54] Speaker 4: I'm not going to talk about the video, but I'd
[17:57] Speaker 4: like to ask you a question about the general aesthetic. Okay, yeah,
[18:00] Speaker 4: of course. So you've gone with something that I see
[18:05] Speaker 4: as solid, it's about.
[18:11] Speaker 6: Structures, it's there, it's concrete.
[18:14] Speaker 4: To represent football, which some people may argue is much
[18:17] Speaker 4: more fluid and movable, there's motion in it.
[18:24] Speaker 3: I'd just like.
[18:25] Speaker 4: To ask you why you went for something that seems
[18:28] Speaker 4: almost the antithesis of what it is you're trying to rebrand.
[18:34] Speaker 5: That's a very interesting point. I think what I wanted
[18:38] Speaker 5: to go for was the totality of football, the universality
[18:41] Speaker 5: of that experience, using a visual identity that conveys that.
[18:47] Speaker 5: But I take your point about movement. That's obviously something
[18:50] Speaker 5: that I did touch on in the video.
[18:53] Speaker 7: Very much so.
[18:54] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I moved a lot.
[18:57] Speaker 6: Thank you, Alex.
[18:58] Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you.
[19:01] Speaker 8: I don't know what to say, to be perfectly honest.
[19:03] Speaker 1: Thank you.
[19:04] Speaker 5: Thank you for that.
[19:06] Speaker 3: I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for your time.
[19:12] Speaker 1: Okay, that is it. It's time for you to leave now, contenders.
[19:19] Speaker 1: Thank you. And for our judges to start their deliberations.
[19:28] Speaker 5: The imagery, the logo, there was no reference to football.
[19:33] Speaker 3: It tends to sort of mutated monster by the end.
[19:37] Speaker 2: He did have a football at least in the logo.
[19:39] Speaker 6: He did.
[19:40] Speaker 4: Amateurish kind of approach. There's room for humour. There's room
[19:44] Speaker 4: for mania. There's room for these things. I think he
[19:48] Speaker 4: ticked the boxes in terms of the brief, but they
[19:51] Speaker 4: were amateurish. I'm sensing that you're feeling the same as that.
[19:56] Speaker 2: I think we're aligned.
[20:01] Speaker 1: The judges said the winner was distinct, different, and the
[20:06] Speaker 1: best of a bad bunch. Our winner is Alex Stewart. Congratulations, Alex. Alex, very,
[20:16] Speaker 1: very well done.
[20:18] Speaker 3: Thank you very much.
[20:18] Speaker 1: How do you feel?
[20:20] Speaker 5: Surprised, mostly. Really humbled.
[20:24] Speaker 3: And yeah, just a bit blown away. So thank you
[20:29] Speaker 3: very much for that. Nice.
[20:32] Speaker 1: We do have something for you.
[20:36] Speaker 9: This is seriously it.
[20:40] Speaker 1: The European Super League trophy.
[20:44] Speaker 2: I mean, I'm disappointed not to win. I thought my
[20:47] Speaker 2: high concept stuff probably would do quite... In fact, I
[20:49] Speaker 2: thought mine would be the best. But having seen Alex's,
[20:51] Speaker 2: I think probably the... He's the only obvious choice from
[20:56] Speaker 2: everything that's happened today.
[21:00] Speaker 9: I mean, the branding was probably the best bit, but...
[21:04] Speaker 9: I mean, mine... Yeah, I deserved it, I guess.
[21:10] Speaker 3: I didn't cheat.
[21:11] Speaker 8: It's a bitter, nasty accusation.
[21:13] Speaker 3: It's a.
[21:18] Speaker 5: I'm kind of staggered. I never win anything. But it's
[21:22] Speaker 5: a testament to the power of dance, I think.
[21:25] Speaker 3: So, yeah, I'm really pleased.
[21:28] Speaker 1: Someone had to win. There were four people competing. They
[21:34] Speaker 1: showed what they can do. And, yeah, someone had to win.
[21:38] Speaker 7: I mean, yeah, obviously... We had to pick a winner,
[21:42] Speaker 7: but in all reality, none of them should have won
[21:44] Speaker 7: or would have won in the real world.
[21:48] Speaker 4: Extraordinary.
[21:50] Speaker 7: I don't really know why they asked me along for this.
[21:53] Speaker 7: I didn't know what I was getting myself in for,
[21:54] Speaker 7: and I think I've just missed my last tube, so
[21:57] Speaker 7: I'm just going to go now.
[21:59] Speaker 1: Dave, don't ever get me into anything like that again.
[22:02] Speaker 1: The first Super League was an absolute shitshow, and that
[22:05] Speaker 1: wasn't much better, all right? No, don't do it again,
[22:07] Speaker 1: all right? Cheers, bye.
[22:12] Speaker 2: If you like this video, please consider subscribing to the channel.
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