Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Atletico Madrid are all pulling out of the European Super League: reports
- Chelsea and Manchester City were the first to withdraw from the European Super League, reports say.
- Atletico Madrid and Barcelona are also now withdrawing, according to reports.
- The controversial 12-team league was announced over the weekend and has faced days of backlash.
Chelsea, Manchester City, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid are all planning to withdraw from the European Super League, said multiple reports on Tuesday, striking a major blow against the controversial competition.
Chelsea and Manchester City were the first teams to have plans to withdraw from the league, The Athletic and The Telegraph reported.
Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have also decided to pull out, reported the sports journalist Ben Jacobs and The Times' chief sports correspondent, Matt Lawton.
The controversial league was announced over the weekend and was to include 12 elite "founding member" teams from across Europe, including six English teams, three Italian teams, and three Spanish teams.
The new league immediately sparked criticism from fans and commentators alike.
"The reaction to it is that it has been damned and rightly so," said former Manchester United player turned commentator Gary Neville. "I'm a Manchester United fan and have been for 40 years of my life, but I'm disgusted, absolutely disgusted.
"I'm disgusted with Manchester United and Liverpool most. Liverpool, they pretend, 'You'll never walk alone,' the people's club, the fans' club.
"Manchester United, 100 years, born out of workers from around here, and they're breaking away into a league without competition that they can't be relegated from? It's an absolute disgrace."
But after two days of uproar from the soccer world, it looks as though those who wished to bring the new Super League to life have been forced to fold their hand.
It was reported that Chelsea would withdraw after fans protested outside the team's stadium on Tuesday amid a worldwide backlash to the new league. When fans found out their club had withdrawn from the competition, they celebrated in the streets, chanting, "We saved football!"
In addition to the clubs that have backed out of the competition, powerful front-office players have been removed from their positions since the withdrawals began. Most notably, Ed Woodward, Manchester United's chairman, has resigned from his position in response to the backlash of his decision to steer his club into the Super League.
With some of the supposed foundational members of the new Super League already going back on their plans, it's unclear how much further plans for the competition will get.