On Monday, 12 of Europe’s biggest soccer teams announced a new breakaway league that they hailed as the future of the sport. Within two days—after a truly horrible reaction from fans, players, and lawmakers—the plan has completely fallen apart and will not go ahead. The six English Premier League teams who had signed up backed out Tuesday night and, on Wednesday, one of the chief architects of the breakaway plan admitted that it could no longer proceed. Juventus Chairman Andrea Agnelli was asked if the league could happen without English teams and he responded: “To be frank and honest, no. Evidently that is not the case.” Agnelli added: “I remain convinced of the beauty of that project.” The competition was widely condemned for being unsporting and motivated by greed.
