European Super League 12 teams

Sunday's announcement by 12 of Europe's most powerful clubs they intend to set up a breakaway Super League rocked the football world.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 16, 2018 Juventus fans cheer during the Italian Serie A football match Juventus vs Sassuolo at the Juventus stadium in Turin. Plans for a breakaway Super League announced by twelve of European football's most powerful clubs plunged European football into an unprecedented crisis on April 19, 2021, with threats of legal action and possible bans for players. Six Premier League teams -- Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur -- joined forces with Spanish giants Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and Italian trio Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan to launch the planned competition. / AFP / Marco BERTORELLO

Battle lines are drawn as European Super League fight promises to get ugly

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.