Super League news summary
Here is the story of an extraordinary day in the world of football which will have major ramifications for the game long into the future.
On Sunday 12 of the wealthiest clubs in Europe announced they had founded a new Super League which would see them shun Uefas Champions League for their own competition. The Super League would reward founding members with protected rights to play in the competition every year, concentrating the sports power and money to a select few and undermining the notion of fair and open competition.
The plans were immediately condemned by all sides. Gary Neville captured the mood in an impassioned speech on Sky Sports earlier on Sunday, describing the Super League as scandalous and a criminal act, and his views were echoed by many others in the game.
Uefa has reacted furiously. President Aleksander Ceferin read a long statement on Monday before tearing into the key actors behind the project, and threatening to ban clubs and players from Uefa competition and major international tournaments. The rift between Uefa and the Super League clubs would never heal, he said. There are also claims from a senior Uefa member that Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid could be kicked out of the Champions League semi-finals.
Players were quiet on the topic throughout the day, but some spoke up. Leeds Uniteds players then wore t-shirts in protest against the Super League ahead of their match with Liverpool.
While Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel elected to not criticise the plans, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reiterated his opposition to the Super League ahead of his sides match against Leeds.
Uefa also announced its new Champions League format, beefing up the competition to include more teams and more matches in what was meant to be a compromise to suit all sides. The plans were controversial in themselves and had been criticised for leaning too favourably towards the wealthiest clubs, but evidently it did not go far enough in securing the financial aims of the Super League dozen.
So what next? The Premier League has called an emergency meeting tomorrow between the other 14 clubs. What is likely to follow now is fraught and protracted legal wrangling between all sides the breakaway 12, domestic leagues, national associations, Uefa, Fifa, players, broadcasters while the lifeblood of the game for more than a century, the supporters, watch on.

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