The European Super League (ESL) founder and Juventus chairman, Andrea Agnelli, has said that the breakaway league can no longer go ahead after eight clubs withdrew.
All six English clubs announced their intentions to withdraw from the competition on Tuesday night, less than 48 hours after it was launched.
The dramatic turn of events came after the six clubs, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur faced a furious backlash from fans and the British government.
La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid and Serie A pacesetters Internazionale have both joined the English clubs in leaving the ESL. Asked whether the project could still happen after the exits, Agnelli told Reuters:
To be frank and honest no, evidently, that is not the case. … I mean, I don’t think that that project is now still up and running.
Agnelli claimed that a lot of clubs had contacted him expressing their intention to join the new European league before the English clubs pulled out. He said:
I’m not going to say how many clubs contacted me in just 24 hours asking if they could join.
Maybe they lied, but I was contacted by a number of teams asking what they could do to join.
The Juventus boss also said he felt the British government’s intervention had pushed the English clubs to withdraw.
Only Spanish pair of Real Madrid and Barcelona, as well as their Italian counterparts AC Milan and Juventus, remain members of the ESL.