Football giants Chelsea, Real Madrid and Man City will be expelled from this season's Champions League on Friday over joining the European Super League (ESL), according to a Danish supremo who sits on UEFA's executive committee.
The Premier League leaders are due to face Paris Saint-Germain next week while Chelsea face the LaLiga heavyweights in the other semi-final – but Danish Football Association boss Jesper Moller has warned that he expects all three to be unceremoniously ousted from the remainder of the competition after announcing their plans to join the controversial new European tournament next season.
Furious UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin promised the administrative body would "take all the sanctions that we can" against the 12 teams breaking away to form the new league, calling the proposals "disgraceful, self-serving" and "fuelled purely by greed."
Now Moller has revealed that he believes the first of those punishments will be delivered at the end of this week.
"The clubs are going out and I expect that to happen on Friday," he told dr.dk, explaining that an extraordinary executive committee meeting would be held over the mutinous proposals.
"I think we who love football have had enough now. Now a line must be drawn in the sand, and then we must find out which way the clubs will go. We owe it to our fans and all those who love football."
How the Champions League might proceed this season with the triumvirate disqualified is unclear. PSG, who have not declared their involvement in the new league, could be awarded the title, or losing quarter-finalists Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Porto – none of whom are among the initial ESL entrants – could be reinstated.
Ceferin also insisted that players who took part in the ESL could be banned from playing in international tournaments such as this summer's Euro 2020, potentially putting the positions of Denmark stars including Inter Milan playmaker Christian Eriksen and Barcelona forward Martin Braithwaite in peril.
Moller said that UEFA would tell the players to either shun the ESL or resign from the existing contracts that allow them to play at international tournaments.
"I believe that the contracts automatically lapse when the clubs opt out [of UEFA tournaments]," he suggested. "Then the players are free and can choose to play in a club that is part of the solidarity and community – our pyramid system.
"If you do not want to be part of the European sports model then I cannot see that you can play on the national team. It simply has to have some consequences, and I think it will this time."
Norway manager Stale Solbakken also had strong words for Juventus president and ESL vice-president Andrea Agnelli, who he described as "one of the driving forces" of the scheme.
"In recent years, [Juventus] have been knocked out by Lyon, Porto and Ajax in the Champions League," pointed out an unimpressed Solbakken.
"Why the **** should they be in such a tournament, then? Tottenham and Arsenal are currently probably not among the 20-30 best teams in Europe."
Moller was part of a committee that helped to oversee proposals for a new 36-team Champions League that appeared to have been backed by the rebel clubs before Sunday's bombshell news of their breakaway.
"We are investigating with our legal department," a seething Ceferin told Reuters on Monday. "We will take every available sanction and we will inform you as soon as we can"
«Накинулись на нас как голодные собаки на кусок мяса!» Участники шоу «Сокровища императора» обвинили Карину Кокс и Женю Искандарову в беспринципной игре ради победы
