What was behind the collapse of the European Super League?

A victory for football fans over the power of the boardroom? Perhaps not. The European Super League highlighted the fault lines in the new geopolitics of the world’s most popular sport.

Who would have thought that a multibillion-dollar cash grab forged in secrecy between the 12 wealthiest clubs in European football would go down so badly in the middle of a worldwide crisis and record economic inequality? Not the brains behind the proposed European Super League, that is for sure. Just days after the fanfare and fury of Sunday’s announcement that the continent’s self-appointed top teams would break away from domestic competition to form their own exclusive league, with no promotion and no relegation – yet eye-wateringly lucrative potential TV rights – the plans lay in tatters.