Manchester: European Super League — the topic which was the most happening in the football in the last few days, took a dramatic turn after fans from all over the world poured their protest against the same. Just before the match before Chelsea vs Brighton, fans blocked the path of the team bus showing their protest.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United fans flocked the streets with banners and slogans condemning the very act. Hence, the six Premier League clubs were the first to withdraw themselves from the European Super League.
Manchester City was the first to release a club statement regarding their withdrawal. The other clubs followed suit soon after. Amongst the ESL fiasco, Manchester United announced that Ed Woodward would step down from his role as executive vice-chairman at the end of the year.
Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan were the next to withdraw themselves from the Super League. All the clubs took into consideration the emotions of their fans and put forth the paperwork for their withdrawal.
As of now, the European Super League stands suspended and it is reported that they are working on a ‘revised plan’ as the current plan did not go through. Fans from all over the world rejoiced this as their own victory and called this ‘Football Won’.
The whole footballing world, the coaches, ex-players and even many current players took to social media to pour in their support for the fans. They stood in solidarity with the fans and protested against their teams signing up for the new European Super League.
In the official statement released by Arsenal, the team apologised to their fans. As one by one every club walked out of the Super League it is most likely that this League has been deemed null and void. The UEFA on the other hand introduced new guidelines for the UEFA Champions League.
“This evolved format will still keep alive the dream of any team in Europe to participate in the UEFA Champions League thanks to results obtained on the pitch and it will enable long-term viability, prosperity, and growth for everyone in European football, not just a tiny, self-selected cartel,” said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin.
The statement read, “The pivotal change in the reforms announced by the UEFA Executive Committee after its meeting on 19 April 2021 is the departure from the current format’s opening 32-team group stage. The present Champions League season begins with participants divided into eight groups of four. From the 2024/25 season, there will be a single league made up of all 36 competing clubs. This will give four more sides the opportunity to compete against the best clubs in Europe.
Under the new format, teams will play four matches more than is currently the case. They will no longer play three opponents twice – home and away – but will instead face fixtures against 10 different teams, half of them at home and half of them away. This gives the opportunity for clubs to test themselves against a wider range of opponents – and also raises the prospect of fans seeing the top teams go head to head more often earlier in the competition. The new format should mean that there is more to play for right up until the final night of league action.”
