Manchester City officially announced that they were withdrawing from their plans to organize the European Super League.
Man City is one of the several founding clubs of the European Super League that are said to have begun to hesitate to step into realizing this exclusive league.
After several hours of being expected to leave the super league, an official statement appeared on the club’s website.
“The Manchester City football club confirms that it has officially put in place procedures for withdrawing from the group that is developing its European Super League plans,” read a brief statement from The Citizens.
Man City’s decision immediately received a response from the UEFA president, Alesandar Ceferin.
“I would like to accept City back into the European football family. They have shown extraordinary intelligence in listening to many voices, especially their listeners,” Ceferin was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
Since Tuesday (20/4) or Wednesday (21/4) several clubs, including Man City, are said to have started to rethink the plans that were previously announced at the end of last week.
Rejection from various parties, starting from soccer bodies such as FIFA and UEFA as well as resistance from supporters and players are also suspected as the main factors for the team’s resignation.
Previously, coach Pep Guardiola was also firmly involved in attacking the planned implementation of the league which only the top European clubs participated in.
With regard to participating in establishing the European Super League, Man City was threatened with being expelled from the English League and Champions League.
One of the other Premier League clubs, Chelsea has also officially declared to leave the European Super League membership.
The statement of resignation was conveyed by The Blues, nicknamed Chelsea in a formal release on Wednesday (21/4).
“As reported earlier this evening, Chelsea confirms that it has started the official procedure of resigning from the group that made plans for the European Super League,” said a Chelsea statement.
In the release, the six-time Premier League champion also mentioned a number of reasons for resigning from the competition led by Florentino Perez.
“Having joined the group at the weekend, now we have time to fully consider this matter,” Chelsea said.
“And it has been decided that further participation in this plan will not be in the best interests of the club, our supporters or the wider football community,” Chelsea added.
Chelsea’s decision to resign is following the steps of Manchester City, which first made an official statement when they left the European Super League.
The Premier League is the initiator of the most in the formation of this Super League. Apart from Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool are representatives of the Premier League in the European Super League.
The rest, came from 3 Spanish League teams: Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona as well as 3 Italian League teams: AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus.
However, the formation of a league that is considered separate from UEFA has drawn criticism from many parties, especially among supporters. UEFA also issued a strong threat to clubs and players involved in the Super League.
