Super League news LIVE: Clubs ‘losing their nerve’ as Chelsea and Man City face Champions League expulsion

04/20/2021

Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid could be expelled from the Champions League by the end of the week, according to a Uefa member, as the fallout from the announcement of the controversial European Super League continues. The trio are among the semi-finalists in Uefa’s flagship competition but have signalled their intention to breakaway and form a new league, and Danish FA head Jesper Moller said yesterday: ““The clubs must go, and I expect that to happen on Friday. Then we have to find out how to finish (this season’s) Champions League tournament.”

It would likely mean the same punishment for Manchester United and Arsenal, who also are part of the 12 clubs breaking away from Uefa and are currently in the Europa League semi-finals, due to face Roma and Villarreal. Uefa is threatening to ban players of clubs in the newly proposed Super League from playing in Euro 2020 as well as the World Cup and Champions League, as president Aleksander Ceferin hit out at those behind the breakaway competition in an explosive press conference, calling Manchester United executive Ed Woodward a “snake”.

United are one of the ringleaders in the new plot among Europe’s major clubs to breakaway from Uefa’s Champions League and form a new Super League which would see the founding members rewarded with protected rights to play in the competition every year, effectively concentrating the sport’s power and money to a select few and undermining the notion of fair and open competition.

The backlash has been fierce, with leagues, football associations, governments, pundits and players all condemning the manoeuvre, its effects on football’s long-standing competitive pyramid and the owners’ brazen disregard for the cultural, social and sporting history of the clubs they purport to represent. The government have also responded forcefully and have announced a fan-led review into football governance, while the Premier League’s ‘other 14’ are set to meet today to discuss the crisis.

Could growing pressure see the entire project collapse? Follow all the latest below as we will bring breaking news, reaction and analysis through the day on this seismic story for European football.

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Read more:

European Super League announced by 12 breakaway clubs
Neville calls on ‘big six’ to be docked points in passionate speech
UK government condemns European Super League plans
Premier League hits out at proposal to ‘destroy’ competition
Explained: How would a European Super League work?

Super League news today

What to expect today? There are a couple of key things to look out for.

The first is at 11am BST when the Premier League’s ‘other 14’ clubs will meet to discuss the crisis. Will they come out firing with a threat of expulsion for Super League clubs? Or will they offer an olive branch?

The second is when Gianni Infantino, the head of Fifa, addresses the Uefa congress in Montreux, Switzerland. He is expected to back his Uefa counterpart Alexander Ceferin in condemning the Super League, but he will also be wary of upsetting the most powerful clubs in the world at a time when is trying to push through his own brainchild, the totally unnecessary expanded Club World Cup, which the football calendar has no time for and which the football world has no major desire for. It is unlikely, then, that he will be labelling football executives “snakes” as Ceferin did yesterday in an explosive news conference.

Super League news today

What to expect today? There are a couple of key things to look out for.

Super League owners 'don’t care’

Here’s something I didn’t expect to be writing this morning: James Corden has had his say. Speaking on his talk show in the US, The Late Late Show, he explained to his many millions of American viewers why it matters so much to soccer fans.

“I’m heartbroken by it, because the owners of these teams have displayed the worst kind of greed I’ve ever seen in sport. Football teams in Britain are over a hundred years old. These teams were started by working class people, built by and for the communities.

“These new billionaire owners have been buying up the top teams and slowly but surely have been moving these teams away from the communities in which the teams were built. And it’s always niggled at the back of fans’ minds whether these owners truly understood what it meant to be part of this club, part of their history, and whether they can be true and honourable custodians of their futures.

“Yesterday the realisation hit every football fan hard. They don’t care.”

Bamford: Football is for the fans

Patrick Bamford was another player who spoke well last night – encouraging signs from the first Premier League match since the Super League was announced.

Bamford, speaking after Leeds’ 1-1 Premier League draw with Liverpool, said football was “for the fans”.

“From what I’ve seen on Twitter, I haven’t seen one football fan who’s happy about it,” Bamford told Sky Sports when asked about the breakaway league. “Football is for the fans. Without fans, clubs would be nothing. It’s important we stand our ground.

“It’s amazing the amount of uproar that comes into the game when someone’s pocket is being hurt. It’s a shame it’s not like this with everything that’s going wrong in the game like racism.”

Patrick Bamford compares Super League furore to reaction to racism

The forward made the succinct point that there had been a far greater uproar over these plans than there has been on social media, from broadcasters and even from clubs themselves in the fight against racism

French government backs Uefa

The French government has backed Uefa in taking strong measures against the 12 breakaway clubs, after Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin vowed to expel the teams from competitions like the Champions League and ban participating players from the Euros and future World Cups. This from Reuters:

French European affairs minister Clement Beaune told France Info radio on Tuesday that he wanted European football’s governing body Uefa to take tough measures in the coming days against the planned breakaway Super League.

He added he congratulated French clubs, such as Paris Saint Germain (PSG), for not having signed up to the Super League. “It puts money above pleasure,” said Beaune, as he criticised the Super League.

Twelve of Europe’s top clubs launched the breakaway Super League on Sunday, launching what is set to be a bitter battle for control of the game and its revenue.

It is hard to find anyone, anywhere with anything positive to say about the Super League. This morning’s newspapers have been just as strongly opposed to the idea as Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher were last night, and their cities’ newspapers have made feelings clear:

What is the Super League?

A reminder, should you need it, of what a European Super League would actually look like. So far 12 clubs have signed up with at least two French clubs also considering joining. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have been strong in their rejection of the idea.

The 12 are Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool from England; AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus from Italy; and Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid from Spain.

They want three more founding members, whose membership each season would be assured, plus five other non-founding clubs who would enter on an annual basis depending on performance.

Here’s more:

How would a European Super League work?

The idea of a European Super League has never seemed more real, but how would it work?

Carragher: 'Super League could fall’

Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville talked passionately about the subject on Sky Sports last night.

“I am so much more confident now that this can be stopped than I was this afternoon,” Carragher said. “Listening to Jurgen Klopp, listening to the players, looking at social media… these six owners are on their own. If one of them goes, this could fall like a pack of cards.”

“We ain’t stopping,” said Neville. “Every single show I come on, talk about football? I don’t care they’re trying to rip it off us. We’ve got to keep going. Every single player, mobilise – I promise you, you’ll get supported. It’s tough being a player, it’s tough being a coach, but I promise, everybody is with you.”

Here’s the full story on the very real possibility of Uefa expelling Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid from the Champions League:

Chelsea, Man City and Real Madrid to be kicked out of Champions League, Uefa member claims

The three clubs are part of the breakaway Super League and are expected to be punished by Uefa, and the same rules are likely to apply to Manchester United and Arsenal in the Europa League

Could Super League collapse?

Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid are in real danger of being evicted from the Champions League. Danish FA head Jesper Moller said yesterday: ““The clubs must go, and I expect that to happen on Friday. Then we have to find out how to finish (this season’s) Champions League tournament.” It would surely spell the end for Manchester United and Arsenal in the Europa League this season too.

Could Uefa pressure cause the Super League to buckle?

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