UEFA
president Aleksander Ceferin has insisted the 12 clubs who attempted to set
up the breakaway European Super League will face sanctions for their
actions.
Premier League clubs Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United,
Liverpool and Tottenham announced their intention to establish a new midweek
European competition to rival the Champions League last Sunday.
They were joined by six other founding clubs: La Liga's Real Madrid,
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, and Serie A's Juventus, AC Milan and Inter.
Several board members from the 12 clubs stepped down from their roles at the
European Club Association (ECA), governed by UEFA, as the controversial
plans started to make traction.
The competition drew widespread condemnation including from Prime Minister
Boris Johnson and the Duke of Cambridge and resulted in fan protests at
Stamford Bridge prior to Chelsea's 0-0 draw with Brighton on Tuesday before
the idea started to unravel on the same evening.
As Chelsea fans gathered at the ground, reports circled the Blues were
considering withdrawing from the competition before Premier League leaders
Manchester City officially pulled out on Tuesday evening, shortly followed
by the other English clubs.
Atletico Madrid and the two Milan clubs withdrew later, while Juventus, Real
Madrid and Barcelona believe the European Super League still has legs.
However, Ceferin, who said he was "completely impressed" by the supporters'
reaction to the concept, admitted sanctions for the six English clubs would
be the most lenient for leaving first, with Juve, Barca and Real set to be
given strong punishment.
"Let's see. Everyone has to take consequences for what they did and we
cannot pretend nothing happened," Ceferin told the Mail on Sunday. "You
cannot do something like that and just say 'I've been punished because
everybody hates me'.
"They don't have problems because of anyone else but themselves. It's not OK
what they did and we will see in next few days what we have to do.
"But for me it's a clear difference between the English clubs and the other
six. They pulled out first, they admitted they made a mistake. You have to
have some greatness to say 'I was wrong'.
"For me there are three groups of this 12 - the English six, who went out
first, then the other three [Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter] after them
and then the ones who feel that Earth is flat and they think the Super
League still exists. And there is a big difference between those. But
everyone will be held responsible. In what way, we will see.
"I don't want to say disciplinary process but it has to be clear that
everyone has to be held responsible in a different way. Is it disciplinary?
Is it the decision of the executive committee? We will see. It's too early
to say."
The Insider: How Super League was doomed
to fail
Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol
There was a frantic race to be first to quit the European Super League (ESL)
on Tuesday.
Manchester City were the first club to have serious doubts, quickly followed
by Chelsea. There was a feeling that there was a small reputational benefit
to be gained from being first to quit.
Chelsea were the first club to let it be known that they were leaving just
before 7pm. At the same time, Man City were telling the ESL they were
withdrawing and that was confirmed at 7.20pm. By then, the whole project was
doomed.
The other clubs knew it was all over when Chelsea and City quit and during a
series of phone calls it was agreed that Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester
United and Tottenham would announce they were leaving at 11pm.
There is a lot of anger and recrimination inside the breakaway clubs and the
majority of it is directed at the small group of owners and chief executives
who tried to push this through. There are a lot of unhappy managers and a
lot of unhappy players.
I've been told that it will be very difficult for some of the people who
were behind this to go into meetings with the other 14 Premier League clubs
because the trust has gone. Apologies and statements aren't going to be
enough.
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