Manchester United and Manchester City have rejoined the independent body that represents football clubs at European level.
The two Premier League clubs will become members of the European Club Association (ECA) again alongside AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Liverpool and Tottenham.
Those clubs all resigned from the ECA in April to form a continental breakaway competition, launching the ill-fated European Super League, which lasted no longer than a matter of days in large part due to mass fan protests.
United supporters stormed Old Trafford and staged a sit-in on the pitch ahead of the Liverpool match in May, causing the game to be postponed, while City fans demonstrated against the club's board at Wembley during the League Cup final in April.
The nine clubs have been reinstated after abandoning any commitment to the Super League project, according to the ECA, although Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid remain on the outside as they continue their plans for a new competition.
“In its decision, and after an exhaustive process of re-engagement by the Clubs and re-assessment by ECA over recent months, the ECA Executive Board took into consideration the Clubs’ acknowledgement that the so-called European Super League project (“ESL Project”) was not in the interests of the wider football community and their publicly communicated decisions to abandon said ESL Project completely,” a statement read.
“The ECA Board also acknowledged the Clubs’ stated willingness to engage actively with ECA in its collective mission to develop European club football – in the open and transparent interests of all, not the few.
"This decision of the ECA board marks the end of a regrettable and turbulent episode for European football and aligns with ECA's relentless focus to strengthen unity in European football."
Earlier this month Uefa rejected a Spanish court order to revoke the punishments meted out to the 12 Super League clubs
Real president Florentino Perez, who maintains that the Super League is not dead, has gone down the legal route to ensure it can move ahead, claiming that the 12 clubs all signed binding contracts locking them into the project.
