Premier League ESL clubs agree on £20 million settlement

The six Premier League clubs which participated in the breakaway European Super League (ESL) project earlier this year have agreed to a £20 million settlement.

According to Sky Sports, the settlement between the clubs and the Premier League will ‘draw the line under’ the controversial proposed tournament, and amounts to roughly £3.5 million per team.

Although the proposed tournament quickly collapsed following backlash from supporters and sporting figures, the Premier League has found that the six English clubs involved – Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur – were all in breach of rule L9. This rule requests that shareholders gain written approval to participate in any new competition.

In addition to the settlement, Sky sources added that the six clubs will face ‘swingeing’ sanctions of more than £20 million each and a 30-point deduction for similar transgressions by signing up to a breakaway league in the future.

Only Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus remain in favour of the ESL project, with the remaining Premier League, Serie A and La Liga clubs withdrawing within days of the tournament’s announcement.

UEFA has already initiated disciplinary proceedings against the trio, after agreeing to reintegrate the Premier League contingent, along with AC Milan, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid, back into the continental governing body’s fold.

However, the rebelling clubs released a statement reaffirming their ‘absolute rejection of the insistent coercion that UEFA has been maintaining towards three of the most relevant institutions in the history of football’.

Meanwhile, the individual leagues have taken steps to avoid a repeat of the breakaway division, with the Premier League introducing an owners’ charter.

The English top-flight has now put further measures in place to safeguard the future of the country’s football infrastructure, with the size of the fines said to be ‘comparable’ to those agreed with UEFA, which will see nine of the 12 clubs involved in the proposals contribute a combined figure of £13 million towards a ‘gesture of goodwill’, including youth and grassroots football.

However, following ‘heated discussions’, it was reportedly decided that Premier League’s penalties will be paid in a straight cash sum, as opposed to a percentage of the broadcast income generated next season.

Meanwhile, Italian football authorities approved the creation of a new ‘anti-Super League’ rule, whilst Serie A is considering sanctions against Juventus which could see the team expelled from the country’s top-flight tournament.