Plans to create a breakaway European Super League have collapsed after most of the football clubs involved said they would quit the controversial project.

On Wednesday, Italy’s AC Milan and Inter Milan and Atlético Madrid of Spain said they would no longer participate, a day after Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all announced they would withdraw from the proposed new league.

The reversals came after a day of frantic behind-the-scenes discussions at the Super League clubs following international condemnation over their involvement in a project that threatened to overturn the hierarchy of the world’s most popular sport. Twelve clubs from England, Spain and Italy signed binding contracts last weekend to enter the competition but teams from France and Germany declined to participate.