European Super League timeline: The plan that blew up world football and then unravelled

It was about 1pm in London, or 10pm AEST on Sunday, when the first word started seeping out about a plan to gather some of the biggest clubs in world football into a new breakaway competition.

From there, it took just two and a half days — or just under 60 frantic hours — for the whole project to unravel.

For many people interested in football, the announcement came as a shock. However, there had been some earlier signs. 

Here’s how it all came about (all times and dates London time).

January 2021: 

An initial story ran in The Times newspaper discussing details of a possible 20-team European Super League — with 15 permanent teams — to start in 2022/23. The suggestion was that those joining up would receive a fee of 310…