The announcement of the plan of 12 of Europe’s most prestigious clubs to form a breakaway European Super League led to unrest and rancour among the domestic leagues of those teams, UEFA, FIFA, their supporters, and the other clubs in the league.
Leeds United led the way with their silent protests on the pitch when they faced Liverpool on Monday. Their players came out to warm up for the game wearing T-shirts on which “Earn It” was written about the plan for 15 clubs to have automatic access to Europe’s elite clubs every season.
Brighton and Hove Albion followed suit the next day when they faced another of the clubs to have committed to partaking in the competition, Chelsea.
Notable names in the football world, including former Manchester United defender Gary Neville, Inter Miami owner David Beckham, former Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil, UEFA president Aleksandr Ceferin, FIFA president Gianni Infantino and many others lent their voices to speak up against the proposed tournament.
The Chairman of the competition’s board, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez held an interview in which he claimed that the Super League was founded to save football from dying an ignominious death.
There was immediate support for the competition initially, with Konami claiming rights on the players and teams and even on betting platforms like NetBet slots must have been prepared in anticipation of the competition.
About 24 hours after the 12 clubs announced their participation, protests broke out on social media and off it.
Fans erected banners around stadiums and gathered around stadiums in England bearing placards with which they stated their displeasure in the proposed tournament.
Chelsea’s fans went further than others and laid siege to the club’s stadium mere hours before their home premier league game against Brighton, forcing club legend and technical director, Petr Cech to go to the crowd and plead for calm.
This protest in London led to the match between Chelsea and Brighton kicking off 15 minutes behind schedule as the teams could not arrive on time.
While the game was on, news began to filter that Chelsea had initiated proceedings to walk away from the European Super League after they had a rethink and considered the possible effect of their participation.
As the match was being played, news broke from Manchester that Manchester City had officially begun legal proceedings to walk away from the competition.
Shortly after, players began to release statements condemning the competition. Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, and Arsenal followed suit and announced their U-turn on the European Super League.
During this, Manchester United executive vice president, Ed Woodward was announced to have stepped down from his position because of the backlash he received, and Manchester United also announced their decision to walk away from the competition.
Juventus president and one of the brains behind the Super League, Andrea Agnelli also announced that he had stepped down from his position as president of Juventus, making it two high-profile resignations in one day.
Chelsea, Inter Milan, AC Milan, and FC Barcelona announced that they would not be taking part in the competition.
After the mass exit of teams from the competition, the ESL board announced that the competition would not kick off as proposed yet.
It remains to be seen whether the European Super League will ever come to fruition.