The European Super League (ESL) is in tatters with nine of the 12 founding clubs confirming they have pulled out of the competition – so what happened and what does it mean for the clubs?
All six Premier League clubs – Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham – as well as Spanish league leaders Atletico Madrid and Italians Inter Milan and AC Milan have said they are withdrawing from the huge controversial league.
Chelsea’s move came amid protests by hundreds of fans outside Stamford Bridge and followed similar events in Liverpool’s game with Leeds on Monday.
Chelsea fans protest against club’s plan to join controversial European Super League
Following a meeting on Wednesday, Atletico Madrid of La Liga confirmed that it was withdrawing and had “decided to formally communicate” its decision “not to finally formalize its adhesion to the project”.
In Italy, Andrea Agnelli, president of Juventus, said the league was no longer viable following the withdrawal of the six English clubs on Tuesday evening.
When asked if the project could still come to fruition, Agnelli replied: “To be frank and honest no, it obviously does not.”
What do the latest developments mean for the Super League?
The squads withdrawal leaves just three of the founding members in a league that had earmarked £ 300million in ‘golden hello’ payments for each club.
Italian Serie A Juventus and Spain’s Real Madrid and Barcelona remain the only clubs still officially involved.
However, the ESL has always vowed to “reshape the project” and insisted that the withdrawal of the English parties was due to “pressure” on them.
In a statement, ESL said: “Given the current circumstances, we will reconsider the most appropriate steps to reshape the project, always having …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-04-21 09:51:00
