European Super League already showing cracks

By Emre Asikci

ISTANBUL (AA) - Plans for a European Super League began to collapse two days after being announced as English football clubs Manchester City and Liverpool said late Tuesday they were pulling out.

“Manchester City Football Club can confirm that it has formally enacted the procedures to withdraw from the group developing plans for a European Super League," the City said in a statement.

"Liverpool Football Club can confirm that our involvement in proposed plans to form a European Super League has been discontinued," the Merseyside club announced.

"In recent days, the club has received representations from various key stakeholders, both internally and externally, and we would like to thank them for their valuable contributions," Liverpool added.

Chelsea, according to reports, will also pull out of the league.

Before City’s announcement, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the clubs' decision to leave.

"The decision by Chelsea and Manchester City is – if confirmed – absolutely the right one, and I commend them for it," he said on Twitter.

Johnson also urged the remaining teams to do the same.

"I hope the other clubs involved in the European Super League will follow their lead.”

- European Super League

On Monday, English football powerhouses Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur along with Italy's Juventus, Milan and Inter and Spanish teams Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid released a joint statement to declare that they had decided to establish the European Super League.

In the statement, the founding clubs also set the format of the annual tournament.

Both FIFA and UEFA slammed their decision.

Aleksander Ceferin, the head of UEFA, European football's governing body, said the players of the teams who will play in the Super League cannot represent their nations in the FIFA World Cup and European football championships.