On Wednesday, the planned European Super League looked to be dead in the water after all six English clubs withdrawn importers and warnings from football officials.
Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Arsenal were six of the 12 clubs who signed up to the breakaway competition, which secured slots and billions of dollars for founding participants.
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However, the reaction to the proposals has been harsh, with politicians and football officials taking legal action against the clubs, who were told they could be barred from competing in domestic and continental competitions.
The city became the first to withdraw, led by United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, and eventually Chelsea - all within 48 hours of the Super League's announcement.
Just six Spanish and Italian clubs remain in the running: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Juventus.
Manchester United's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward declared his retirement, and Arsenal apologized to supporters for their "mistake."
"As a result of listening to you and the broader football community in recent days, we have decided to withdraw from the new Super League," Arsenal said in a tweet.
"We made a mistake and sincerely apologize."
The Super League stated that it would look at options to save the company, stating that "the current mechanism does not work."
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"We will decide the most necessary measures to reshape the project," according to a tweet.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin expressed his "delight," and the English Football Association praised fans for "their influential and unequivocal voice."
Bayern Munich, the reigning European champions, and Paris Saint-Germain, the French giants, all spoke out forcefully against the breakaway league.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson issued a statement on the team's behalf, adding, "We don't want it and we don't want it to happen."
On a day of high drama, Manchester United revealed that Woodward will leave the club at the end of 2021.
Earlier, Ceferin told the owners, especially some of the Premier League clubs involved, that there was still time for them to pull out.
"Some will argue it's vanity, some will say it's a total lack of understanding of England's football history," he added.
"You still have time to change your mind.
Everyone makes errors."
Gianni Infantino, FIFA president, gave a stern message to the ESL's heavyweight clubs.
It is our responsibility to defend the European sports model, but if any want to go their own way, they must deal with the implications of their decisions," Infantino said at the UEFA congress in Switzerland.
Before Tuesday's Premier League match against Brighton, which ended in a 0-0 draw, over 1,000 fans gathered outside Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium to protest the program.
"RIP Football 1863 - 2021," "Produced by the poor, robbed by the wealthy," "We want our cold nights in Stoke," and "Roman do the right thing" - all in reference to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, had earlier consulted with Premier League players, the FA, and supporter groups, vowing to do everything in his power to dismantle the ESL program.
"The decision by Chelsea and Manchester City is - if confirmed - entirely the right one, and I applaud them for it," he tweeted before City's decision
The European giants created the 20-team ESL to ensure income from daily matches against one another without the possibility of failing to qualify for 15 founder members.
However, also their own players and stagecoaches slammed the initiative for behaving like a closed shop.
"It's not a sport if there's no relationship between commitment and compensation," Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said.
"It's not a sport if victory is already assured, and it's not a sport if losing doesn't matter."
The 12 teams agreed to split an initial pool of more than 3.5 billion euros ($4.2 billion), significantly increasing their earnings, which had been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The plans, revealed late Sunday, would have required five additional clubs to register annually for the midweek race, joining the 15 permanent participants.
Currently, teams have to qualify for the Champions League each year through their national competitions and survive a group phase before reaching the high-profile latter
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