Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur will begin the process of withdrawing the European Super League proposal, the clubs confirmed on Tuesday.
Chelsea are also expected to leave the proposed league, sources confirmed to ESPN.
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The investment is an impressive change of direction for English Premier League clubs following Sunday’s announcement that they were among the 12 biggest football teams in Europe planning to secede from the UEFA Champions League.
Man City were the first clubs to announce this, making a brief statement: “Manchester City Football Club can confirm that it has formally enacted procedures to withdraw from the group developing plans for a European Super League.”
In his statement, Arsenal “apologized” to their fans and added: “It was never our intention to cause such distress, but when the invitation came to join the Superliga, even though we knew that there were no guarantees, we didn’t want to stay to make sure we protected Arsenal and their future. “
Liverpool said their involvement in the project three days ago had been “interrupted”, while Manchester United said they would also withdraw from the deal.
After Manchester City announced their departure, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said: “I am delighted to welcome you. [Manchester City] back to the family of European football. They have shown great intelligence in hearing the many voices, especially their fans.
“It takes courage to admit a mistake, but I’ve never doubted that they have the ability and common sense to make that decision. The city is a real asset to the game and I’m happy to work with them to get a better future for Europeans.” “.
Chelsea news was first reported by the BBC and confirmed by ESPN’s James Olley. The club has not yet made any official statement.
Those twelve clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus – had insisted that ESL would provide greater financial support. in the football pyramid with 10 billion euros provided in solidarity payments to non-participating clubs that will be distributed over an initial period of 23 years.
Organizers of the Superliga, led by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, had said they hoped to add three more founding members before launching their competition “as soon as possible”.
Pérez, who was scheduled to appear on Cadena SER’s Spanish radio program “El Larguero” on Tuesday night, skipped the interview to attend meetings related to the proposed league, according to program presenter Manu Carreno.
Ahead of their scoreless draw with Brighton on Tuesday, a group of Chelsea players flocked to President Bruce Buck to tell him they were opposed to the proposed league, sources told Olley.
Several hundred fans gathered outside Stamford Bridge hours before the start to express their opposition to the club’s plan to sign up for the new competition.
Technical and performance director Petr Cech was seen on camera asking fans to let the team bus into the ground while fans blocked access to the stadium.
Then came the news that the Blues were preparing documentation to reverse their decision to join, provoking cheers and chants of “We saved football” from fans who had moved away about 300 meters from the point main entrance to the stadium.
Earlier in the day, the other 14 Premier League clubs met to discuss the crisis along with the Football Association.
The Premier League issued a statement on Tuesday stating that it “unanimously and vigorously rejected” the plans and that it was studying the possibility of holding the six clubs accountable.
Meanwhile, in Spain, Barcelona’s participation in a new league would be conditional on members of the League club voting in favor of the proposal, according to ESPN Deportes and Spanish media.
Catalan television TV3 reported that the contract that the president of Barça, Joan Laporta, signed with the other 11 founding member clubs, included a clause that allowed the club to withdraw from the agreement if its members were not agreement.
The report added that Laporta met on Tuesday with Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman to explain the club’s position in the Superliga and that it has been agreed to speak with club captains Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto on Wednesday.
Barcelona was not immediately available for comment.
Unlike the Champions League competition, where teams have to qualify through the national league, the founding teams of the Super League would be guaranteed a place in the new competition every year.
UEFA has warned that it could impose sanctions on clubs and players taking part in pro-independence competition and has also sparked statements of concern from public figures such as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope Francis.
UEFA had voted on Monday to change the format of the Champions League from 32 teams to 36 with the remodeled tournament, which would begin at the start of the 2024-25 season.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino told the 12 European Super League clubs on Tuesday that they could not be “in the middle, in the middle” of the established football system and that they would have to face the reality of their decision. .
Some of the top players hired from these six Premier League clubs had expressed concern over UEFA’s threat to ban them from playing in their home countries in international tournaments, including the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Reuters contributed to this report.