The power of football supporters was clear on Tuesday as Chelsea fans gathered outside Stamford Bridge to protest against their club signing up to play in the ESL
The European Super League is on "standby" despite nine of the 12 founding teams withdrawing, says Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
After a furious backlash against the proposed tournament that was announced on Sunday, all six Premier League clubs involved withdrew on Tuesday.
Spanish club Atletico Madrid and Italian sides AC Milan and Inter Milan have also formally pulled out.
"We're going to continue working," said Perez. "The project is on standby."
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On Thursday night Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan raised concerns over plans to change the Champions League by adding more matches, saying it was just the "lesser of two evils" compared to the ESL.
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus have not withdrawn from the ESL, although Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli said the project could not now proceed.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta echoed Perez's comments, saying a new competition is required to ensure the financial health of the game.
"We will speak more about it when the time comes but for now we understand there is a need for it, even though our members will have the final say," Laporta told Catalan network TV3.
"Big clubs contribute a lot of resources and it's absolutely necessary that we have our say on the distribution of money [in European football]."
Laporta was named Barca president for a second time in March, taking the helm of a club in heavy debt.
Javier Tebas, president of Spain's La Liga, said: "If it [the Super League] was good for football, as Perez has said, they wouldn't have done it behind our backs."
On whether their would be sanctions from La Liga for the Spanish clubs, he added: "We are not talking about sanctions.
"Everyone wants to cut people's heads off. We have to have a procedure and we have to see how it looks in the end. These clubs have been sanctioned by their own fans."
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Speaking on the El Larguero show on Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, Super League chairman Perez claimed the project was not yet dead as all 12 clubs "have not left yet".
"You cannot get out of the contract like this – they are binding contracts," he added.
When asked what the penalty was for leaving the project, Perez did not answer.
- Why the ESL failed – and will clubs try again?
Perez reiterated his view that the ESL was created "to save football", having also previously said the move had been made because young people were "no longer interested in football" because of "a lot of poor quality games".
He added he was "sad and disappointed" by the reaction to the project, which the clubs have been working on "for around three years".
He accused Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and various countries' footballing authorities of "aggression" and "threats" towards the ESL.
"Maybe we didn't explain it well, but they also didn't give us an opportunity to explain it," said the 74-year-old.
"I've been in football for 20 years and I've never seen threats like this. It was like we killed someone. It was like we killed football. But we were trying to work out how to save football."
A revamped 36-team Champions League, starting in 2024, was agreed on Monday, although the ESL teams had said in its announcement of Sunday it did not think Uefa's reforms went far enough.
"The Champions League format is old and only interesting from the quarter-finals onwards," said Perez.
"This format clearly doesn't work, so we thought that we could have a format where the most important teams in Europe play against each other from the very beginning of the season.
"We worked out the numbers and felt we could make much more money, more money for all the other teams too."
Laporta said talks with domestic leagues and Uefa remain necessary, and suggested the ESL would not be a closed off competition.
"It must be an attractive competition based on sporting merits," he said.
"We also will defend national leagues and we're open to having an open dialogue with Uefa.
"We always want to improve football and have the necessary revenues to ensure football remains a spectacle. If the big clubs don't continue to have large revenues then football will suffer."
Meanwhile, Perez claimed one of English football's 'big six' – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham – were reluctant about the ESL from the start.
"There was someone in the English group that didn't have much interest, I won't say who," he said.
"That began to infect others, who are also people of an age, and who are perhaps afraid because they did not understand anything of what was happening.
"We all signed a binding agreement, but I think one was never very convinced."
Analysis
Spanish football expert Guillem Balague on BBC Radio 5 Live
Perez has got a vision and apparently the rest of the world is not seeing it and that's dangerous when someone feels like that.
He kept saying, in his second appearance in a disastrous PR campaign, that he's there to save football.
He's talking about big losses – in the case of Real Madrid, they've gone from expecting to earn 900m euros (£779m) to 600m euros (£519m) in only one season, and that stops them doing a lot of their projects, like maybe signing Kylian Mbappe from Paris St-Germain.
In Spain, we are a completely different type of fan. We don't act against things we think are unfair. In England, it is more like a lifestyle. They are taking something off you and you go out to try to get it back.
Perez has been untouchable for many years. But this vision did not really have strong foundations so the media are having a bit of a laugh here.
We are all very surprised Joan Laporta and Barcelona have not come out and pushed away from this idea. But, they are so desperate for money that they think whoever comes up with the right idea, they will just join in.
We are a little bit disappointed by the leaders of the two biggest clubs in Spain.
Attempts to curtail 'big six' influence
Senior executives from the Premier League clubs who were part of the ESL are being asked to stand down from various league working groups – or face being voted out by the 14 other clubs, reports BBC sports editor Dan Roan.
In a move that suggests the 'big six' influence is set to be curtailed, the Premier League is in the process of writing to; outgoing Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Liverpool chair Tom Werner, who sit on the league's broadcast advisory group; Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, who is on the audit and remuneration committee; and Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and Manchester City's chief executive Ferran Soriano, who are on the league's club strategic advisory group.
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Comment posted by 139 IQ, at 10:35 22 Apr139 IQ
10:35 22 AprThe arrogance of Perez know no bounds. His comment to ‘have a format where the most important teams in Europe play against each other’ is appalling. Who is he to decide who the most important clubs are? I support Swindon Town; unimportant to most folk but THE most important club in football to me. I expect fans of other non ESL clubs feel the same about their clubs too. Wind your neck in Perez.140743
Comment posted by NorthernMatt, at 10:31 22 AprNorthernMatt
10:31 22 Apr“I’ve been in football for 20 years…” says the 74 year old. Those few words tell you a lot about this guy & how he values the game86712
Comment posted by Anonymous, at 10:30 22 AprAnonymous
10:30 22 AprDon’t they realise – a lot of these games between so called top teams are the ones that are like watching paint dry?76818
Comment posted by Joe, at 10:30 22 AprJoe
10:30 22 AprFootball’s financial bubble finally burst, so Madrid/Barcelona saw this as an attempt to plug that hole.
Ferguson predicted it when they sold Ronaldo for 80m, it was inevitable.
I hope this leads to a reset of more reasonable wages and stability, it’s well overdue.
Perez – you brought this on yourself, good riddance.64512
Comment posted by A grown-up, at 10:37 22 AprA grown-up
10:37 22 AprThe plans for a ESL were all because Real Madrid and Barcelona (a duopoly in la Liga) are in a pickle due to a combination financial overstretch, aging teams and competition from the likes of Man City and PSG. Covid then brought everything to a head. Florentino Perez is worried that RM cannot attract the world’s best players without a huge financial injection so RM’s whole business model collapses6253
Comment posted by GorbleGorble, at 10:49 22 AprGorbleGorble
10:49 22 AprPerez thinks he’s saving football when actually it’s teams like Leicester who save football by rising to the top through merit.49810
Comment posted by Mertornottomert , at 10:31 22 AprMertornottomert
10:31 22 AprStand by? How out of touch is this man. You lost now go into exile where you belong. Horrible man from a horrible club.4037
Comment posted by Den, at 10:30 22 AprDen
10:30 22 AprThis bloke is the Donald Trump of football, he gets more ludicrous by the day33733
Comment posted by Generic Liverpool Fan 99, at 10:36 22 AprGeneric Liverpool Fan 99
10:36 22 AprThe day Perez sold Claude Makelele to Chelsea and replaced him with David Beckham was the day I realised how much he knows and cares about football. Buy Beckham for the shirts, keep makelele for the trophies, idiot.29313
Comment posted by Bobbus74, at 10:40 22 AprBobbus74
10:40 22 AprFootball doesn’t need saving. Perez is just trying to dig himself out of the financial pit he’s dug at Real Madrid and doesn’t give a monkey’s about the “smaller” clubs.2371
Comment posted by Triman247, at 10:34 22 AprTriman247
10:34 22 AprHe is deluded and so out of touch. The 3 teams left are the ones who have been playing merry go round of the worlds most expensive players and bullying the rest of teams for years. Finally the reality of this is sinking in. Good riddance to them2101
Comment posted by riskfan, at 10:33 22 Aprriskfan
10:33 22 AprAt least he is being honest about his intentions.. it’s still an awful idea, how anyone didn’t see this direction of travel in football is what gets me.. We need to start seeing wage caps.2045
Comment posted by Fin de Cloche, at 10:31 22 AprFin de Cloche
10:31 22 AprHow many times do three teams have to play each other to hold a league competition? More or less than fans will be bored out of their minds watching the same two opponents week in, week out?
Perez has completely lost touch with the real world if he thinks his scheme is going anywhere anytime soon.1852
Comment posted by AndyB_MOT, at 10:29 22 AprAndyB_MOT
10:29 22 AprThis guy isn’t right in the head.1411
Comment posted by paul hirst, at 10:38 22 Aprpaul hirst
10:38 22 AprPerez ” football cant survive, and people are getting bored with it ” ??? Who the heck does this guy think he is. The man is clearly out of touch with the supporters of the game.1412
Comment posted by WeeJohn, at 10:34 22 AprWeeJohn
10:34 22 AprSuch an arrogant man who blatantly does not appreciate fans, only money! Embarrassment to football.1305
Comment posted by Simon, at 10:33 22 AprSimon
10:33 22 AprI won’t stop being angry until we’ve got 50%+1 fan ownership, so this can never happen again.12312
Comment posted by jOeY, at 10:38 22 AprjOeY
10:38 22 AprAs a massive supporter of Hartlepool United we would love to join the Super League.1123
Comment posted by Spolmit, at 10:33 22 AprSpolmit
10:33 22 AprWhen you make a mistake, others realise it but you cannot, then you have a problem.901
Comment posted by PCorker, at 11:19 22 AprPCorker
11:19 22 AprThe Champions League final a couple of years ago between Spurs and Liverpool was one of the worst football matches I’ve ever seen.
Suggesting the super league will improve the quality of matches is just a smokescreen for greed merchants like him.881