The European Super League was officially announced on Sunday as it planned to bring together 12 of the biggest clubs in Europe into an elitist tournament.
Florentino Perez was the one spearheading this whole project and he even had plans to roll out the inaugural tournament this August, thereby overshadowing the Champions League as well as the Europa League.
This league has been mainly devised so the 12 clubs can earn truckloads of money without worrying too much about what will happen on the pitch. But Perez has always maintained that the Super League will not only chance football but will also allow fans to watch top-quality matches every week.
The official statement read: “Twelve of Europe’s leading football clubs have today come together to announce they have agreed to establish a new mid-week competition, the Super League, governed by its Founding Clubs.
“AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Atlético de Madrid, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspur have all joined as Founding Clubs. It is anticipated that a further three clubs will join ahead of the inaugural season, which is intended to commence as soon as practicable.”
This Super League though was not met well amongst the footballing community and there have been massive uproars since Sunday – both from the various boards as well as the fans.
And these protests have only intensified over the past two days, so much so that the Super League is now starting to crumble.
The first big blow came late on Tuesday night when reports suggested that Chelsea have begun the process of withdrawing from the Super League primarily due to their fans not being happy.
Breaking: Chelsea are preparing to withdraw from the European Super League.
They are the first of the 12 founding teams to walk away from the new tournament @brfootball pic.twitter.com/8vNMwxGN4B
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 20, 2021
Chelsea played Brighton at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night and huge crowds had gathered outside the stadium to protest this breakaway league.
Former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech speaks to fans protesting against the proposed introduction of the European Super League | 📷 @wilsonscribbles pic.twitter.com/2EOYtWB2cY
— Offside Sports Photo (@welloffside) April 20, 2021
Shortly after this, reports emerged that Manchester City are also planning to back out and have already made their intentions clear to the Super League board.
❌ @ManCity are pulling out of the European Super League, reports @MartinLipton.
😳 City have told organisers they no longer want to be part of the breakaway competition. pic.twitter.com/aFvAxXnuij
— SPORF (@Sporf) April 20, 2021
Spanish La Liga sides Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona are also planning to withdraw from the breakaway. Barcelona have made it clear they will not enter the tournament if they do not receive approval from the socios.
BREAKING
Atletico Madrid drop out of Super League.
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) April 20, 2021
🚨🚨| Joan Laporta (Barcelona president): "Barcelona will NOT join the Super League until our socios vote for it. It's their club, so it's their decision." @ActualiteBarca #rmalive
— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) April 20, 2021
Manchester United chairman Ed Woodward has resigned and the club is expected to follow in the footsteps of Man City and Chelsea and will pull out of the Super League
BREAKING: Ed Woodward has resigned as Manchester United chairman, per @MarkOgden_ pic.twitter.com/At8GGKSu88
— B/R Football (@brfootball) April 20, 2021
Major #SuperLeague update ⚠
Atletico Madrid are OUT of ESL now too.
Man City are also in the process of withdrawing.
Man United WILL be withdrawing with official confirmation set to be made before FRIDAY!#MUFC @strettynews
— Leah Smith (@LeahSmith_) April 20, 2021
So, it’s safe to say the ESL will not be seeing the light of the day after all. With almost half of the original 12 teams backing off and teams like Bayern Munich, Dortmund and PSG also rejecting the offer to enter the tournament, it’s just a matter of time that Perez comes out and scraps the idea of the Super League.
