The European football separatist superleague has disappeared since the six English Premier League clubs involved in the project gave up 48 hours after agreeing to join the Italian and Spanish teams in the controversial elite competition.
After a storm of protests from fans, players, managers and governments, along with threats of bans and sanctions from European and world governing bodies of the UEFA and FIFA game, English clubs threw in the towel on Tuesday.
Manchester City was the first to come out of the adventure and then Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea announced that they are following suit.
The Super League issued a statement suggesting that although they could suspend their project, they have not completely abandoned it.
“Given the current circumstances, we will reconsider the most appropriate steps to reshape the project, always keeping in mind our goals to provide the best possible experience for fans, while increasing solidarity payments for the entire football community,” it says. in the press release.
The Madrid organization said that the departure of the English teams is due to the “pressure” exerted on them and said that they are “convinced that the current status quo of European football must change”.
The league, which was announced on Sunday with 12 founding members, is supported by the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, the president of the new competition. He now has three Italian clubs – AC Milan, Juventus and Inter Milan – plus Perez’s Real Madrid with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in Spain.
Perez canceled a scheduled radio interview on Tuesday.
More departures are expected
Inter Milan seems to be the next to leave for the Italian news agency ANSA, quoting a club source as saying: “The Super League project in its current state is no longer considered of interest by Inter”.
UEFA, whose elite Champions League competition was at risk from the proposed new league, has threatened to ban clubs and players who have joined the Superliga.
However, its president, Aleksander Ceferin, earlier urged English clubs to rethink and adopted a conciliatory tone.
“I said yesterday that it is admirable to admit a mistake and these clubs have made a big mistake,” he said after English clubs announced their departure decisions.
“But they are back now and I know they have a lot to offer not only to our competitions, but to the whole European game.
“The important thing now is to move on, to rebuild the unity that the game enjoyed before and to go together,” he said.
In addition to the drama, Manchester United Executive Vice President Ed Woodward announced his resignation shortly before his club dropped a project he had influenced.
#SuperLiga was officially SUSPENDED 🚨🚫
– English clubs have left (and Chelsea, officially soon).
– Inter have left, AC Milan is about to leave.
– Juventus and Spain clubs: waiting for the official position.full #SuperLiga was stopped to “remodel the project.”
– Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 20, 2021
Running European champions Bayern Munich and French giants Paris Saint-Germain strongly opposed the separatist league.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson wrote a statement on behalf of the team on Twitter, saying: “We don’t like it and we don’t want it to happen. This is our collective position. ”
More money
The Super League had claimed that it would increase revenues for top clubs and allow them to distribute more money for the rest of the game.
US investment bank JP Morgan was brought in to fund the new league, offering a € 3.5 billion ($ 4.21 billion) grant to founding clubs to spend on infrastructure and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the governing bodies of the sport, other teams and fan organizations said that the Superliga will increase the power and wealth of elite clubs, and the partially closed structure of the league was against the long-standing model of European football.
Unlike the current European Champions League competition, in which teams have to qualify through their internal league, the founding teams of the Super League would have guaranteed a place in the new competition every year.
Most English clubs made only brief statements, but Arsenal apologized to fans for their involvement.
Brighton players wear a UEFA Champions League European anti-Super League jersey 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]
“It was never our intention to cause such suffering, however, when the invitation came to join the Superliga, although we knew there were no guarantees, we did not want to be left behind to make sure we protected Arsenal and its future.
“As a result of your listening and the wider football community in recent days, we are withdrawing from the proposed Superliga. We made a mistake and we apologize for that, “the London club said in an open letter to fans.
The magnitude of the division at stake and the strength of the sentiment it generated led political leaders across Europe to speak out and, in some cases, threaten to intervene.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said his government will consider adopting legislation to stop the separation, comparing plans to creating a cartel.
The Premier League said it had “unanimously and vigorously” rejected the plans. 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 British government and other key stakeholders,” Manchester United said in a statement.
“We remain committed to working with others in the football community to come up with lasting solutions to the long-term challenges facing the game.”