The European Super League appears to have collapsed after all six of the Premier League sides that agreed to join reversed their decision on Tuesday night.
News broke ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League fixture at home to Brighton that the club were preparing to withdraw from the new competition. Blues fans had gathered outside Stamford Bridge to protest against the Super League.
Shortly afterwards, Manchester City became the first Premier League side to publicly confirm they were pulling out of the breakaway competition, with a statement reading: “Manchester City Football Club can confirm that it has formally enacted the procedures to withdraw from the group developing plans for a European Super League.”
Later on Tuesday evening, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham announced they were also backing out of the plans.
Tuesday’s timeline – how the Super League collapsed
- 8:30am – Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol tells Good Morning Sports Fans that he understands the Super League could collapse
- 10am – FIFA president Gianni Infantino reiterates the governing body’s ‘strong disapproval’ of the plans
- 10:45am – SSN understands cracks begin to emerge among the Premier League sides committed to the Super League
- 12pm – Senior figure at one of the breakaway Premier League clubs insists they ‘will not back down’
- 12:30pm – Prime Minister Boris Johnson says ‘no action is off the table’ in stopping the Super League
- 1:30pm – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola criticises the Super League, saying ‘it is not sport’
- 2:15pm – 14 Premier League clubs ‘vigorously reject’ Super League plans
- 5:30pm – Chelsea fans begin protesting outside Stamford Bridge
- 6:30pm – Chelsea’s performance and technical advisor, Petr Cech, urges fans to let team into stadium; kick-off against Brighton delayed
- 7pm – News breaks that Chelsea are preparing to withdraw from the Super League
- 7:30pm – Manchester City follow Chelsea in withdrawing from Super League
- 8pm – Manchester United executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, steps down
- 9pm – Liverpool players come out against the Super League on social media
- 11pm – Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham withdraw from the Super League
- 1am (Wed) – Chelsea officially confirm they are also withdrawing from the Super League
- 1am (Wed) – Super League says it will ‘reconsider’ proposals
The Super League responded in the early hours of Wednesday morning, saying it would “reconsider” its plans, adding that the English clubs had been forced to withdraw due to the “pressure put on them”.
