Twelve of Europe's top clubs are launching a breakaway ‘Super League’, headed by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
The move, which has been heavily criticised by football authorities, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron, sets up a rival to UEFA's Champions League competition.
Six clubs from England's Premier League - Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur - feature among the founding members, along with Spain's Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, and Italy's Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan.
The league plans to launch "as soon as practicable" and the founding clubs will be given NZ$5.87 billion "to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic", says the Super League.
FIFA disapproves of the breakaway competition, called the European Super League, as it was outside of international football structures.
"Against this background, FIFA can only express its disapproval to a 'closed European breakaway league' outside of the international football structures," it says.
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Reuters
