Twelve of Europe's leading football clubs, including six from the Premier League, have announced a new European Super League competition.
Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have been confirmed as "founding clubs" for the controversial Super League.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus have also joined up, with an official announcement arriving late on Sunday evening.
"Twelve of Europe's leading football clubs have today come together to announce they have agreed to establish a new mid-week competition, the Super League, governed by its founding clubs," read an official statement.
"Three more clubs are expected to join as founding clubs before the inaugural season, which is expected to start as soon as possible."
UEFA and the Premier League have condemned the breakaway competition, while UK Prime Minster Boris Johnson has also hit out at the proposal.
Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain are notable absentees at this stage, with the pair not present in the list of the clubs when the statement was released.
The new format will rival the Champions League but will not allegedly be a replacement for domestic leagues, although it remains to be seen whether the clubs would be allowed to still compete in their respective divisions.
The statement continued: "The formation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model.
"Further, for a number of years, the founding clubs have had the objective of improving the quality and intensity of existing European competitions throughout each season, and of creating a format for top clubs and players to compete on a regular basis.
"The pandemic has shown that a strategic vision and a sustainable commercial approach are required to enhance value and support for the benefit of the entire European football pyramid. In recent months extensive dialogue has taken place with football stakeholders regarding the future format of European competitions.
"The founding clubs believe the solutions proposed following these talks do not solve fundamental issues, including the need to provide higher-quality matches and additional financial resources for the overall football pyramid."
Meanwhile, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who is the chairman of the newly-formed Super League, said in a statement: "We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than four billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires."
Former Man United captain Gary Neville is among a number of high-profile individuals to speak out against the competition. body check tags ::
