Plans for a breakaway super league rocked European football this week as fans, politicians and the game’s governing bodies united in fury. After two chaotic days, the whole scheme had collapsed. David Conn looks back on a week of humiliation for football’s richest clubs
Plans released on Sunday night for a breakaway European Super League have stunned the world of football and provoked a massive backlash against the clubs involved. Six English teams joined three each from Spain and Italy to announce the new venture which they say would involve midweek matches supplanting Uefa’s Champions League.
The announcement was met with fury from Europe’s football governing bodies, from fans and politicians who pledged to do everything in their power to prevent the breakaway league going ahead. Two days later, all six English clubs had pulled out and the entire scheme had spectacularly unravelled.