It has not taken 48 hours for the massive European Super League project to completely collapse.
After an afternoon of rumours about the possible departure of one of the 12 founding clubs of the new competition, first Manchester City confirmed that it would leave and then the BBC reported that Chelsea had also decided to pull out. By midnight, all six Premier League clubs had left as Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, and Manchester United joined them. Late on Tuesday night, AC Milan also announced its withdrawal.
These decisions clashed head-on with the earlier statements of Real Madrid's Florentino Pérez, president of the Super League, who in an interview with Spanish football chatshow El Chiringuito, stated that the 12 founding clubs had signed binding documents to prevent desertions.
Man City announces its departure
Manchester City issued a statement confirming it was pulling out of the new elite league: "Manchester City Football Club can confirm that it has formally enacted procedures to withdraw from the group that is developing plans for a European Super League."
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said after the news: "I am delighted to welcome City back to the European football family. They have shown great intelligence in listening to their fans."
An hour later, and all within a very few minutes, the remaining English teams did the same thing, definitively pulling the plug on the project led by Florentino Pérez.
In Liverpool, the players themselves had made a joint squad statement on the new League, saying "we don't want it to happen".
In addition, the government of Boris Johnson had been pressuring all the English teams belonging to the European Super League to leave the competition.
Emergency meeting of the 12 clubs
The turn that events have taken led to the calling of an emergency meeting of the 12 founding members of the Super League on Tuesday evening to address the new situation.
On the one hand, there was a group of teams that wanted to move forward with the project, as they believe that taking a step back now would be very detrimental. This group includes, among others, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Juventus. In fact, in England, the resignation is reported of Ed Woodward, president of Manchester United and vice-president of the Super League, while in Italy, there are rumours that Andrea Agnelli, Juventus president and also a vice-president of the Super League, has resigned from his club as well.
On the other hand, were the clubs that did not see the project as having a clear future after the criticism received and who considered that it was best to turn back.
Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA / EFE
Barça's Delegate Assembly has the last word
In the case of FC Barcelona, Catalonia television has reported that club president Joan Laporta has a "get out of jail" card with respect to the project, in the form of a clause in the contract under which Barça would not be part of the Super League if its club members, through the Assembly of Delegates, so decided.
Such a vote now seems unlikely, with the Super League project already disappearing beneath the waves.
Main image: the Champions League looks like it will continue to be the top competition in European football / Adidas