Europe's biggest clubs announced break away League, Boris Johnson, Bayern Munich, Premier League fan kick against it

Europe's twelve top clubs on Sunday announced they were launching a breakaway Super League, which will abolish the Champions League, headed by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur have all joined as founding clubs, the statements added.

The clubs, defiled several threats from UEFA and their leagues governing bodies to announce the new competition.

Madrid president Perez said: "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."

The format for the new European Super League is as follows;
1. 20 participating clubs with 15 Founding Clubs and a qualifying mechanism for a further five teams to qualify annually based on achievements in the prior season.

2. Midweek fixtures with all participating clubs continuing to compete in their respective national leagues, preserving the traditional domestic match calendar which remains at the heart of the club game.

3. An August start with clubs participating in two groups of ten, playing home and away fixtures, with the top three in each group automatically qualifying for the quarter finals.

4. Teams finishing fourth and fifth will then compete in a two-legged play-off for the remaining quarter-final positions.

5. A two-leg knockout format will be used to reach the final at the end of May, which will be staged as a single fixture at a neutral venue.

As part of the move, all 12 clubs are expected to resign from the European Club Association, the body which brings together 246 major clubs, with immediate effect. 

Arsenal have left with chief executive Vinai Venkatesham stepping down from his position on the ECA board. Venkatesham was only elected last month.

Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan have all confirmed their exit with ECA chairman Andrea Agnelli also resigning from his role. Manchester United have stood down with the club's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward resigning his position as a board member, while Tottenham and Chelsea have also left.

The agreement provides that the founding clubs will receive an upfront net grant of approximately €3.5 billion ($4.19 billion) in aggregate, the statements said. A women's Super League competition is also planned to be launched after the men's league is up and running.

The European Super League, planned to start in time for the 2023-24 season.

"By bringing together the world's greatest clubs and players to play each other throughout the season, the Super League will open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world-class competition and facilities, and increased financial support for the wider football pyramid," said Joel Glazer, co-owner of Manchester United and vice chairman of the Super League.

Barcelona were the latest European side to confirm on their website their plans to join a new league. A statement said: "Going forward, the Founding Clubs look forward to holding discussions with UEFA and FIFA to work together in partnership to deliver the best outcomes for the new League and for football as a whole.

If the initiative is successful, which has already been rebuked by FIFA and numerous FAs throughout Europe, it would threaten the existence of the Champions League -- football's biggest club competition -- with UEFA due to announce on Monday a new 36-team format for the tournament designed to stave off attempts by the game's top clubs to break away.

Planned to come into force in 2024, the remodelled Champions League would involve 36 teams playing 10 group games rather than six. The biggest clubs also would receive an increased share of prize money.

Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, also a vice chairman of the new league, said the move would secure the long-term future of the game.

"Our 12 founder clubs represent billions of fans across the globe and 99 European trophies," he said in a statement. "We have come together at this critical moment, enabling European competition to be transformed, putting the game we love on a sustainable footing for the long-term future, substantially increasing solidarity, and giving fans and amateur players a regular flow of headline fixtures that will feed their passion for the game while providing them with engaging role models."

No German or French clubs have yet to be associated with the breakaway.

FIFA said on Sunday it disapproved of the breakaway competition 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," a statement from football's world governing body read.

Fans of the Premier League clubs named as part of the breakaway Super League launched on Sunday have joined forces to condemn the move, with Chelsea's Supporters' Trust describing it as the "ultimate betrayal."

"Our members and football supporters across the world have experienced the ultimate betrayal," the statement read. "This is a decision of greed to line the pockets of those at the top and it has been made with no consideration for the loyal supporters, our history, our future and the future of football in this country.

"This is unforgivable. Enough is enough."

The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust said it was "deeply concerned" at its club's involvement, while Arsenal's Supporters' Trust described it on Twitter as "the death of the club as a sporting institution."

UEFA criticised the plans in a statement and said: "UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and La Liga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League.

"If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we -- UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, La Liga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations -- will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.

"We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.

"As previously announced by FIFA and the six Federations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams.

"We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough."

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government will "everything we can" to stop the European Super League from going through.

Some clubs released statements that said they intend to continue in their domestic leagues, but UEFA and FIFA threatened to ban teams who participate, which could lead to the teams involved abandoning their own leagues.

"I don't like the look of these proposals, and we'll be consulted about what we can do," Johnson said while on a visit to Gloucestershire. "We are going to look at everything that we can do with the football authorities to make sure that this doesn't go ahead in the way that it's currently being proposed.

"I don't think that it's good news for fans, I don't think it's good news for football in this country.

"These clubs are not just great global brands -- of course they're great global brands -- they're also clubs that have originated historically from their towns, from their cities, from their local communities.

"They should have a link with those fans, and with the fanbase in their community. So it is very, very important that that continues to be the case."

Borussia Dortmund have released a statement outlining their opposition to the plans, along with Bayern Munich.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the 12 European clubs told the leaders at FIFA and UEFA that legal action is already being pursued to stop them from action intended to thwart the launch of the breakaway competition, according to a letter obtained on Monday by the Associated Press.

The letter was sent by the group of English, Spanish and Italian clubs to FIFA President Gianni Infantino and UEFA counterpart Aleksander Ceferin saying the Super League has already been underwritten by a grant of €4 billion ($5.5bn) from JP Morgan.

UEFA warned the Super League clubs, including Barcelona, Juventus and Manchester United, after leaks of their plans on Sunday that legal action would be taken against rebel clubs and said they would be barred from existing domestic competitions like La Liga in Spain and the Premier League in England.

"Your formal statement does, however, compel us to take protective steps to secure ourselves against such an adverse reaction, which would not only jeopardise the funding commitment under the Grant but, significantly, would be unlawful," the Super League clubs wrote to Infantino and Ceferin. "For this reason, SLCo (Super League Company) has filed a motion before the relevant courts in order to ensure the seamless establishment and operation of the Competition in accordance with applicable laws."

"It is our duty, as SLCo's board members, to ensure that all reasonable actions available to protect the interests of the competition and our stakeholders are duly taken, given the irreparable damage that would be suffered if, for any reason, we were deprived of the opportunity to form promptly the competition and distribute the proceeds of the grant," the Super League letter continued.