By Oliver Trust

BERLIN, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The controversial Super League project involving 12 top European football teams has met with harsh criticism from club officials and fans in Germany.

The country's leading clubs announced they would reject any offers made by the organizers of the newly formed league and spoke of a "criminal act."

According to a report by Der Spiegel, both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund received invitations to join the Super League, and have been given 30 days to accept the offer.

The report speaks about plans to include two clubs from Germany and at least one from France, assumedly Paris Saint-Germain.

Despite UEFA's threats to exclude the 12 founding clubs from international competition, national leagues, and their players from European Championships and World Cups, the absense of clubs from Germany and France is said to weaken the project's progress.

UEFA councils announced they would decide on the futures of the founding clubs and their players by this Friday. Players associations demanded that UEFA deal fairly with players, as they are not thought to be a driving force behind the Super League plans.

Leading German clubs such as Bayern, Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen said they don't support the formation of a Super League.

Fan unions in Germany and across Europe supporter groups have joined the opposing faction, calling the plans "a catastrophe for football's future."

German league CEO Christian Seifert accused the clubs involved of fatal mismanagement over the past decade.

"Clubs from Italy and Spain didn't manage to set up a convincing business plan despite a 10-year-long period of exceptional growth in football regarding TV money and sponsorship income," Seifert stated.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge also weighed in. "We are convinced that the current structure in football guarantees a reliable foundation. FC Bayern welcomes the reforms of the Champions League. I do not believe the Super League will solve the financial problems of European clubs that have arisen as a result of the coronavirus pandemic."

Rummenigge demanded solidarity of all clubs "to ensure that the cost structure, especially players' salaries, and agents' fees, are brought in line with revenues, to make all of European football more rational."

After several officials of the Super League's founding clubs left the European Club Association, ECA demands grew to convince Rummenigge to rejoin the ECA and UEFA committees. The Bayern official had been ECA president from 2008 to 2017.

UEFA announced plans to expand the Champions League from 32 teams to 36 starting from the 2024/2025 season.

Every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of 10 group stage games against 10 different opponents (five home games, five away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams played on a home and away basis.

The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition. Enditem

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