Chelsea and Manchester City have decided to start withdrawing from the proposed European Super League, sources confirmed to ESPN.
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The turnaround is a great turnaround for the two English Premier League clubs following Sunday’s announcement that they were one of the twelve of Europe’s biggest football team planning to break away from the UEFA Champions League.
The BBC News was first reported by the BBC and confirmed by James Olley of ESPN, while the Sun Manchester City first reported, which was confirmed by Rob Dawson of ESPN. Neither party has officially commented on the decision.
The twelve clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus – have demanded that the ESL provide greater financial support for the football pyramid. offer. with a planned payment of € 10 billion in solidarity to non-participating clubs spread over an initial period of 23 years.
The organizers of the Super League, led by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, have said they hope to add three more founding members before launching their competition ‘as soon as possible’.
The developments took place ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League match against Brighton on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge. A group of Chelsea players went to chairman Bruce Buck to say they were opposed to the proposed league, sources told Olley.
Hundreds of fans gathered outside Stamford Bridge hours before the kick-off to signal their opposition to the club’s plan to sign up for the new competition.
Technical and performance director Petr Cech was spotted on camera pleading with fans to drop the team bus to the ground while fans blocked their access to the stadium.
The news then leaked that the Blues had compiled documentation to join their decision to join, reverse, and cheers and chants of ‘We saved football’ from the fans who were moving about 300 meters from the stadium’s main entrance.
Meanwhile in Barcelona, Barcelona’s participation in a new league would be subject to the fact that the members of the League club would vote in favor of the proposal, according to ESPN Deportes and Spanish media reports.
Catalan television station TV3 reported that the contract that Barca’s president Joan Laporta had signed with the other 11 founding members contained a clause enabling the club to withdraw the agreement if its members did not agree to it.
According to the report, Laporta met with Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman on Tuesday to explain the club’s position on the Super League and he spoke to Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto on Wednesday.
Barcelona were not immediately available for comment.
Unlike the Champions League competition, where teams have to qualify through their local league, the founding members of Super League teams will secure themselves in the new competition every year.
UEFA has warned that it could impose sanctions on clubs and players taking part in the breakaway competition, and has also expressed concern about public figures such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope Francis.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Tuesday told the 12 breakaway European Super League clubs that they could not be ‘half, half out’ of the established football system and had to face the reality of their decision.
A number of top players contracted to the six Premier League clubs have expressed concern over UEFA’s threat to ban them from playing for international countries at international tournaments, including the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.