Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City have opted out of football’s proposed new Super League.
The decision comes just days after City were confirmed as one of six English Premier League sides, including Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, looking to make up the new breakaway competition, alongside Spanish giants Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Italian sides Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan.
However, the move was strongly condemned by supporters as well as football authorities and government ministers in the UK and across Europe by UEFA and league associations.
A statement on the Manchester City website said that it has “formally enacted the procedures to withdraw from the group developing plans for a European Super League”.
City, which were the first to pull out of the new Super League, have been joined by the remaining five other English sides in their withdrawal.
City’s England midfielder Raheem Stirling tweeted after the decision: “Ok bye.”
Club statement.https://t.co/GeNQZn8091
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 20, 2021
Announced on Sunday, the Super League boasted a new European competition between 20 top clubs comprised of 15 founders and five annual qualifiers. The proposal was for two groups of 10 clubs each, playing midweek home and away fixtures within the group each year, with no relegation.
About $5 billion has been committed to the new project by the American bank JP Morgan.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who was appointed chairman of the breakaway competition, said it was established to “save football” because young people are “no longer interested” in the game because of “a lot of poor quality games”.
There have been no statements as yet from the remaining six members.
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