Inter’s former midfielder Luis Figo has hammered plans for Europe’s new Super League as ‘greedy’ and ‘tragic’, warning it would be ‘a disaster for the football community’.

Inter were one of 12 leading European clubs to announce their participation in the new franchise last night, in a group of founding members which also included Serie A rivals AC Milan and Juventus.

The new league is due to start ‘as soon as practicable’ but has received widespread condemnation from football officials and supporters, with UEFA president Aleksandar Ceferin dismissing it as ‘a nonsense project’ and ‘disgraceful’.

“This so called Super League is anything but super,” Figo tweeted on Monday.

“This greedy and callous move would spell disaster for our grassroots, for women’s football and for the wider football community…

“It would only serve self-interested owners, who stopped caring about their fans long ago, and it would be complete disregard for sporting merit.

“Tragic.”

Inter, AC Milan and Juventus would be joined in the Super League by six Premier League clubs (Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham) and three La Liga teams (Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid).

The games would be played in midweek, overlapping with the UEFA Champions League but allowing clubs to keep playing in their domestic leagues.