Twelve clubs announced a European Super League on 18 April 2021 and, two days later, all six English clubs had pulled out. What it proposed, who opposed it and the legal questions it raised.
On Sunday 18 April 2021, twelve clubs — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Juventus, Inter, Milan, Atlético de Madrid, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid — announced the creation of the European Super League, a competition of their own that would be played midweek, with the clubs continuing to play in their domestic leagues. The project envisaged a core of up to fifteen permanent founding clubs and twenty participants in total, with five places decided each year on sporting merit. Its chairman would be Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid. The clubs said they looked forward to talks with UEFA and FIFA.
The reaction
UEFA and the football associations and leagues of England, Spain and Italy rejected the project and warned that the clubs would be excluded from other domestic and continental competitions; UEFA promised measures to stop what it called a “cynical project”. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron also opposed it, and Johnson went as far as considering legislation to prevent it. Fans rejected it.
On Tuesday 20 April, Madrid Commercial Court No. 17 issued interim measures in proceedings brought by the Super League’s promoters: it barred FIFA and UEFA from taking any measure or action that directly or indirectly hindered preparation of the project, and ruled out sanctions and exclusions from the competitions in which the clubs and players normally took part. The order also bound national leagues and federations.
The project collapses
The withdrawals began that same night. Manchester City was the first to formally start the procedures to leave; Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham confirmed their exit afterwards, and all six English clubs abandoned the project. The other fourteen Premier League clubs had rejected the plan that same day, and Liverpool’s owner, John Henry, apologised in a video, and Manchester United’s vice chairman announced he was stepping down. On Wednesday 21, Atlético de Madrid, Inter and Milan also announced their exit, and Juventus said the project had little chance of being completed in its original form: its chairman, Andrea Agnelli, said it could not continue without the six English clubs.
The Super League issued a statement that night saying it still backed its proposal and would reconsider the best way to reshape it. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said the clubs had made a mistake and were “back in the fold”. With nine withdrawals, three of the twelve founders remained in the project: Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.
The legal questions it raises
The case raises questions of competition law and the organisation of sport: how far a federation or confederation can veto rival competitions and punish those who take part in them, and when that power collides with European competition rules. The Madrid court’s ruling is only interim, pending the main proceedings, and does not settle the substance of the dispute.
This note records only what was known up to 22 April 2021. For clubs, sponsors and media, the immediate calendar depends on what the three clubs still in the project, UEFA and the courts decide.
In European football, announcing a competition is the easy part; the hard part is getting fans, leagues and courts to accept it.
This article is general information. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it does not take anyone’s particular circumstances into account.
