Just a day after the “European Super League” plan, featuring 15 permanent “founding members” and only five qualifying spots for a midweek league intended to take on the UEFA Champions League, was publicly announced, that league now seems likely to not actually happen. Only 12 clubs had signed on as “founding members” as of Monday’s announcement, and the English teams (and perhaps others) have now pulled out amidst massive backlash from fans, players, politicians, UEFA and FIFA executives, and even late-night hosts. At least one other club executive has reportedly resigned. So the whole league plan seems very much in doubt. Here are some of the reports of teams leaving and executives resigning:
Update: Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea confirmed their withdrawals later Tuesday:
Club statement.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 20, 2021
We will not be participating in the European Super League.#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 20, 2021
Meanwhile, Manchester United’s Ed Woodward resigned:
Elsewhere, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has said they won’t join without the approval of their members’ assembly, and that seems unlikely to happen. And with so many clubs leaving, and several others, including Bayern Munich and PSG, already saying they won’t join, it looks like the Super League idea is all but done just a day after its public reveal. But there are reports that some remaining clubs may try to push on, so we’ll see where it goes next.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.