Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City has confirmed that it is one of 12 European football clubs which have come together to establish a new midweek Super League.
City are joined by AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Juventus, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.
It is anticipated that a further three clubs will join ahead of the inaugural season, which is intended to commence “as soon as practicable”.
A statement on the Manchester City website said: “The formation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model.
“Further, for a number of years, the founding cubs have had the objective of improving the quality and intensity of existing European competitions throughout each season, and of creating a format for top clubs and players to compete on a regular basis.”
However, the move has been strongly criticised by many in the game. Manchester City FC official Supporters Club said it showed “those involved have zero regard for the game’s traditions” and they were “determined to fight against this proposed Super League”.
UEFA released a joint statement with England’s Football Association, the Premier League, the Spanish Football Federation, La Liga and the Italian Football Federation, as well as Serie A, saying they will “remain united” in trying to stop the breakaway, using “all available measures”.
The ECA “strongly opposed” the league, while the Football Supporters’ Association said the plans were “motivated by nothing but cynical greed”.
The Super League website reads: “The Super League is a new European competition between 20 top clubs comprised of 15 founders and five annual qualifiers. There will be two groups of 10 clubs each, playing home and away fixtures within the group each year.
“Following the group stage, eight clubs will qualify for a knockout tournament, playing home and away until the single-match Super League championship, in a dramatic four-week end to the season.
“Games will be played midweek, and all clubs will remain in their domestic leagues.”
About $5 billion has been committed to the new project by the American bank JP Morgan.
In their own announcement, the breakaways clubs state: “The founding clubs will receive an amount of €3.5 billion solely to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the Covid pandemic.”
Florentino Pérez, President Real Madrid CF and the first chairman of the Super League said: “We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than four billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires.”
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