Sports

Super League Collapses as Premier League Clubs Pull Out

Published

5 years ago

April 21, 2021

Eric

The proposed European Super League collapsed on Tuesday after Premier League clubs withdrew from the deeply divisive project following a furious backlash by fans and threats from football authorities.

Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal were six of the 12 leading clubs to initially sign up to the breakaway competition designed to guarantee spots each year and billions of dollars for founding members.

But reaction to the plans has been scathing, with politicians and football chiefs threatening to take legal action against the so-called “dirty dozen”, who were told they faced potential bans from domestic and continental competitions.

United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham joined City in withdrawing from the ill-fated European Super League (ESL), with Chelsea reportedly set to follow — just 48 hours after the project was announced.

That leaves just six sides — Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus still involved.

City were the first club to announce their withdrawal.

“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 club said in a brief statement.

The English Football Association said it welcomed moves by clubs to abandon plans for the Super League, praising fans for “their influential and unequivocal voice”.

Reigning European champions Bayern Munich and French giants Paris Saint-Germain both came out strongly opposed to the breakaway league.

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson tweeted a statement on behalf of the squad, saying: “We don’t like it and we don’t want it to happen. This is our collective position.”

On a day of intense drama, Manchester United announced that executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward would step down from his role at the end of 2021.

Earlier, Ceferin, addressing the owners, particularly of the Premier League teams involved, said there was still time for clubs to pull out.

“Some will say it is greed, some complete ignorance of England’s football culture,” he said. “There’s still time to change your mind. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“It is our task to protect the European sport model, so if some elect to go their own way then they must live with the consequences of their choices,” Infantino said at UEFA’s congress in Switzerland.

– Chelsea protest –
More than 1,000 fans gathered outside Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium to protest against the plan before Tuesday’s Premier League match against Brighton, which ended in a 0-0 draw.

Fans held up signs reading: “RIP Football 1863 – 2021”, “Created by the poor, stolen by the rich”, “We want our cold nights in Stoke” and “Roman do the right thing” — in reference to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

Speaking after reports emerged that Chelsea were going to pull out, supporter Tom Cunningham said he was “over the moon”.

“Greed has not prospered,” he said. “We are here, we’re the people, multiple fans, standing against disgusting greed and we’ve triumphed.”

British Prime Minster Boris Johnson earlier met Premier League clubs, the FA and fan groups, vowing to do all in his power to kill the ESL plan.

The 20-team ESL was designed by the European giants to guarantee revenue from regular matches against one another without the risk of failing to qualify for 15 founder members.

– ‘It’s not a sport’ -However, the plan was fiercely criticised by even their own players and managers for acting as a closed shop.

“It’s not a sport when the relation between effort and reward doesn’t exist,” said Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.

“It’s not a sport when success is already guaranteed, it’s not a sport if it doesn’t matter if you lose.”

The 12 teams had signed up to share in an initial pot of more than 3.5 billion euros ($4.2 billion) — vastly boosting their revenues, which have been badly hit during the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the proposals, announced late Sunday, five more clubs would have had to qualify for the 20-team midweek competition, joining the 15 permanent members.

The breakaway announcement came just hours before UEFA announced a new, 36-team format for the Champions League, which had been conceived to placate the continent’s biggest clubs.

AFP

Sports

Luka Modric’s World Cup Story Ends, Cristiano Ronaldo Gets Lifeline

Published

1 day ago

July 3, 2026

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

It was an emotional encounter as two of world’s best footballers; Luca Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo squared against each other in a bid to lay their hands on the coveted World Cup trophy when Portugal met Croatia in the round of 32. But after about 97minutes of play time, the World Cup story of Modric came to am abrupt end while Ronaldo gets a lifeline, proceeding to the Round of 16.

Both Ronaldo and Modric are not likely to feature in another World Cup tournament.

Portugal battled into the last 16 of the World Cup with a drama-filled 2-1 victory over Croatia on Thursday to set up a titanic showdown with European champions Spain.

In another nerve-shredding World Cup classic, Goncalo Ramos headed Portugal into the lead in the fourth minute of stoppage time before Croatia saw a last-gasp equaliser agonisingly ruled out for offside in Toronto.

Portugal’s 41-year-old superstar captain Cristiano Ronaldo had helped haul his team back into the contest, burying a 68th-minute penalty to cancel out Croatia’s 53rd-minute opener from Ivan Perisic.

Ronaldo later joined frenzied celebrations after Ramos glanced home a sensational header deep into injury time to give Portugal the lead.

But Ronaldo and his Portugal team-mates were left stunned when Josko Gvardiol prodded home an apparent equaliser in stoppage time.

Yet there was one final twist when the goal was chalked off for offside after a lengthy VAR review to the disbelief of Croatia’s players and their large contingent of fans at Toronto’s BMO Field.

After the final whistle, an emotional Ronaldo held up and pulled on a Portugal shirt bearing the number 21, a tribute to late team-mate Diogo Jota, the Liverpool star who tragically died in a car crash almost a year to the day from Thursday’s win, on July 3 last year.

“We knew it before the game. It was a so special moment. We speak today, our group, about that, the coincidence of life, it’s unbelievable,” Ronaldo said afterwards of the tribute to Jota.

“I was amazed because the situation of today. It means a lot to us, not only because we won the game, but the also the way we won the game. It was a difficult game, we knew it.”

The result ensures that Ronaldo’s incredible World Cup career will be extended for at least one more match when the Portuguese face Iberian rivals Spain in the last 16 in Dallas on Monday.

Ronaldo’s second-half penalty made him the oldest man to score in a World Cup knockout match.

Spain romp past Austria

Spain had advanced to that meeting with a scintillating 3-0 win over Austria in Los Angeles earlier Friday that confirmed their status as one of the favourites for the title.

Two goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and a Pedro Porro header sealed victory for the Spaniards, who produced their most complete performance of the tournament to advance to the next round.

Spain opened their World Cup campaign with a faltering 0-0 draw against Cape Verde, but have subsequently built momentum with each match.

AFP

Sports

Ronaldo Celebrates Saudi Pro League Win with Al-Nassr

Published

1 month ago

May 22, 2026

Eric

Al Nassr captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, has finally won the Saudi Pro League title.

They were confirmed champions on Thursday, thanks to a 4-2 drubbing of relegation battlers, Damac.

The title race had gone down to the final day after Al-Nassr dramatically dropped points against Al-Hilal the previous week.

Jorge Jesus’ side knew there could be no mistakes against a Damac side fighting for survival at the other end of the table.

Ronaldo was on the scoresheet, as his brace helped Al Nassr secure the title ahead of rivals Al Hilal.

Sports

FIFA Lists Six Females Among 52 Referees for 2026 World Cup

Published

3 months ago

April 10, 2026

Eric

FIFA on Thursday unveiled its list of match officials for the June 11-July 19 World Cup, including 52 referees, six of whom are women.

Football’s governing body will also take 88 assistant referees and 30 video match officials, who hail from all six confederations and 50 member associations.

“The selected match officials are the very best in the world,” said Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s chief refereeing officer.

“They were part of a wider pool of officials that was identified and monitored over the past three years. They have attended seminars and officiated at FIFA tournaments.

“In addition, their performances in domestic and international matches were regularly assessed.”

The World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be the biggest in history, with a 48-team line-up and 104 matches to be played.

There are 41 more match officials than at Qatar four years ago, where 32 teams played 64 matches.

“The fact that six women match officials have been selected continues a trend that was started four years ago in Qatar as we aim to further develop women’s refereeing,” Collina said, with six women having already refereed in 2022.

AFP