Sunday's announcement by 12 of Europe's most powerful clubs they intend to set up a breakaway Super League rocked the football world.
The European Super League will be a midweek competition to rival Uefa's Champions League and will start "as soon as is practicable", according to a joint statement by its 12 founding members, who will govern the league.
The announcement has been met by widespread criticism, with the 12 clubs accused of "greed" and "the most unprecedented power grab in the history football".
Florentino Perez, the Real Madrid president who has been elected chairman of the breakaway league, has defended the group's actions, and accused Uefa of holding a "monopoly" on European football.
Uefa says it is is working to ban the clubs and their players from its competitions "as soon as possible".
Who are the 12 founding members of the ESL?
Six Premier League clubs, and three each from Italy and Spain, make up the initial dozen to sign up to the European Super League. In alphabetical order they are AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.
The new league hopes to persuade three more founding members to join and for five other clubs to be invited annually, though Perez claimed Paris Saint-Germain have not been invited.
The clubs, most of them saddled with debt and large wage bills, and hit hard by the pandemic, stand to benefit financially, with predictions that they will share billions of euros.
Wall Street giant JP Morgan confirmed on Monday that it was financing the new venture.
Below is a brief profile of each club its ranking in the Forbes richest football clubs list, and achievements domestically and in Europe.
The 12 European Super League teams
1. AC Milan (Italy), Value: $559 million
18 Serie A titles; 7 Champions League titles, 2 Cup Winners' Cups
2. Arsenal (England), Value: $2.8 billion
13 English league titles; 1 Cup Winners' Cup
3. Atletico Madrid (Spain), Value: $1 billion
10 La Liga titles; 3 Europa League titles, 1 Cup Winners' Cup
4. Barcelona (Spain), Value: $4.76 billion
26 La Liga titles; 5 Champions League titles, 4 Cup Winners' Cups
5. Chelsea (England), Value: $3.2 billion
6 English league titles; 1 Champions League, 2 Europa League, 2 Cup Winners' Cup
6. Inter Milan (Italy), Value: $743 million
18 Serie A titles; 3 Champions League, 3 Uefa Cups
7. Juventus (Italy), Value: $1.95 billion
36 Serie A titles; 2 Champions League, 1 Cup Winners' Cup, 3 Uefa Cup
8. Liverpool (England), Value: $4.1 billion
19 English league titles; 6 Champions League, 3 Uefa Cups
9. Manchester City (England), Value: $4 billion
6 English league titles; 1 Cup Winners' Cup
10. Manchester United (England), Value: $4.2 billion
20 English league titles; 3 Champions League, 1 Cup Winners' Cup, 1 Europa League
11. Real Madrid (Spain), Value: $4.75 billion
34 La Liga titles; 13 Champions League, 2 Uefa Cups
12. Tottenham Hotspur (England), Value: $2.3 billion
2 English league titles; 1 Cup Winners' Cup, 2 Uefa Cups
How to tell if your child is being bullied at school
Sudden change in behaviour or displays higher levels of stress or anxiety
Shows signs of depression or isolation
Ability to sleep well diminishes
Academic performance begins to deteriorate
Changes in eating habits
Struggles to concentrate
Refuses to go to school
Behaviour changes and is aggressive towards siblings
Begins to use language they do not normally use
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
The five pillars of Islam
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Final round
25 under - Antoine Rozner (FRA)
23 - Francesco Laporta (ITA), Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA), Andy Sullivan (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG)
21 - Grant Forrest (SCO)
20 - Ross Fisher (ENG)
19 - Steven Brown (ENG), Joakim Lagergren (SWE), Niklas Lemke (SWE), Marc Warren (SCO), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT)
MO
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
FIXTURES
Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
