The separatist Superliga of European football has been in disarray since the six English Premier League clubs involved in the project left 48 hours after agreeing to join Italian and Spanish teams in the controversial elite competition.
Following a storm of protests from fans, players, managers and governments, along with threats of bans and sanctions from European and world gaming governing bodies UEFA and FIFA, English clubs threw in the towel on Tuesday.
Manchester City were the first to leave the company, and then Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea announced they would follow suit.
The Superliga issued a statement suggesting that although they could suspend their project, they had not abandoned it completely.
“Given the current circumstances, we will reconsider the most appropriate steps to remodel the project, always keeping in mind our goals of offering fans the best possible experience and improving solidarity payments for the entire football community,” the statement said.
The Madrid-based organization said the departure of the English teams was due to the “pressure” they put on them and said they were “convinced that the current status quo of European football must change”.
The league, which was announced on Sunday with 12 founding members, is led by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, president of the new competition. He now has three Italian clubs: AC Milan, Juventus and Inter Milan, as well as Pérez’s Real Madrid, along with Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid in Spain.
Perez canceled a scheduled radio interview on Tuesday.
More departures are expected
Inter Milan are likely to be the next to leave with Italian news agency ANSA, citing a club source: “Inter no longer consider the Superliga project to be in its current state.”
UEFA, the elite Champions League competition at risk for the proposed new league, threatened to ban clubs and players who joined the Superliga.
Its president, Aleksander Ceferin, however, had previously urged English clubs to rethink and adopted a conciliatory tone.
“I said yesterday that it was admirable to admit a mistake and that these clubs made a big mistake,” he said after English clubs announced their decisions to leave.
“But now they have played again and I know they have a lot to offer not only in our competitions, but in the whole European game.
“The important thing now is that we move forward, rebuild the unity we enjoyed before the game, and move forward together,” he said.
In addition to the drama, Manchester United executive vice-president Ed Woodward announced his resignation shortly before his club resigned from a project that had been influential in the realization.
#SuperLiga has been officially suspended 🚨🚫
– English clubs have left (Chelsea too, soon official).
– Inter have left, AC Milan is ready to leave.
– Juventus and Spanish clubs: waiting for the official position.All #SuperLiga has stopped to “remodel the project”.
– Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 20, 2021
The reigning European champions Bayern Munich and French giant Paris Saint-Germain strongly opposed the separatist league.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson tweeted a statement on behalf of the squad, saying: “We don’t like it and we don’t want it to happen. This is our collective position.”
More money
The Superliga had argued that it would increase revenue for the best clubs and allow them to distribute more money to the rest of the game.
US investment bank JP Morgan joined to fund the new league, providing a € 3.5 billion ($ 4.21 million) grant to the founding clubs to invest in infrastructure and recover from the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, sports governing bodies, other teams and fan organizations said the Super League would increase the power and wealth of elite clubs and the partially closed structure of the league went against the model. of European football.
Unlike the current top-level European Champions League competition, where teams have to qualify through their national league, the founding teams of the Superliga would have been guaranteed a place in the new competition every year. .
Most English clubs only made brief statements, but Arsenal apologized to their fans for participating.
Brighton players wear Super League shirts against UEFA Champions League as they warm up ahead of the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Brighton and Hove Albion in London on Tuesday [Neil Hall/AFP]
“We never intended to cause such distress, but when the invitation to join the Superliga came, even though we knew there were no guarantees, we did not want to be left behind to ensure the protection of the Arsenal and their future.
“As a result of listening to you and the football community in general in recent days, we are withdrawing from the proposed Superliga. We made a mistake and apologize for that,” the London club said in an open letter to fans.
The magnitude of the division of the game and the strength of the sentiment it generated led political leaders across Europe to demonstrate and, in some cases, to threaten intervention.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government would consider passing legislation to stop the rupture, compared to plans to create a cartel.
The Premier League said it rejected the plans “unanimously and vigorously”. After a meeting with the 14 clubs not involved, he said he was considering “all available actions” to stop the new competition.
“We have listened carefully to the reaction of our fans, the UK government and other key stakeholders,” Manchester United said in a statement.
“We remain committed to working with other members of the football community to find sustainable solutions to the long-term challenges facing the match.”