Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will begin the process of withdrawing from the proposed European Super League, the clubs confirmed on Tuesday.
Chelsea are also expected to leave the proposed league, sources confirmed to ESPN.
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The turnaround is an incredible turnaround for the English Premier League clubs following Sunday’s announcement that they are one of twelve of Europe’s biggest footballers planning to break away from the UEFA Champions League.
Man City were the first of the clubs to announce and made a brief statement: “Manchester City Football Club can confirm that it has formally instituted the procedures to withdraw the group to develop plans for a European Super League.”
In their statement, Arsenal ‘apologized’ to their supporters, adding: ‘It was never our intention to cause such distress, but when the invitation to join the Super League came, even though we knew there were no guarantees was not, we did not want to stay. behind to ensure that we protect Arsenal and its future. “
Liverpool have said their involvement in the three-day project has been ‘discontinued’, while Manchester United have said they are withdrawing from the deal. Tottenham have also said they would not participate.
After Manchester City announced their retirement, UEFA President Alexander Ceferin said: “I am delighted to welcome it. [Manchester City] back to the European football family. They showed a lot of intelligence to listen to the many voices – especially their fans.
“It takes courage to admit a mistake, but I have never doubted that they had the ability and common sense to make the decision. City are a real asset to the game and I am delighted to be with them. working for a better future for the European game. “
The BBC News was first reported by the BBC and confirmed by ESPN’s James Olley. The club has yet to make another official statement.
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 amount 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’.
Perez, who would appear on Spanish radio program “El Larguero” on Cadena SER on Tuesday night, had rather skipped the interview to attend meetings about the proposed league, according to the program’s presenter Manu Carreno.
Before their pointless draw on Tuesday with Brighton, a group of Chelsea players went to Bruce Buck, chairman, 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.
Earlier in the day, the 14 other Premier League clubs met to discuss the crisis with the football association.
The Premier League on Tuesday issued a statement saying it had “unanimously and forcefully rejected” the plans and was considering taking action to hold the six clubs accountable.
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.
UEFA voted on Monday to change the Champions League format by expanding it with the reformed tournament from 32 teams to 36, as it would start at the start of the 2024-25 season.
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.
Reuters contributed to this report.