Analysis: 12 clubs have announced they are joining the new European Super League after a weekend of frantic talks
It was only on Saturday morning that a senior executive of one of European football’s biggest clubs realised that the long-rumbling talks about the breakaway European Super League were suddenly – in his words – “about to go nuclear”.
For months, clubs had batted round proposals for a €6bn (£5.2bn) breakaway league, that would see 15 founding clubs receive between €89m and €310m immediately for signing on the dotted line. But while each of them had been given documents, contracts, and asked to come back with ideas, Uefa appeared to have blocked the plan by agreeing to a reformed Champions League, involving 10 group games in a Swiss-style format, which they were due to announce on Monday.
