In a significant boost to the Super League project, Europe’s top court ruled on Thursday that UEFA has been “abusing a dominant position” in its control of European football.
The Super League and its backers, A22 Sports, argued that UEFA’s prohibition of the would-be competition — a concept launched in April 2021 — and its threatened punishments for participating clubs was an illegal monopoly under European competition law.
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Thursday’s ruling by the European Court of Justice [ECJ] found that FIFA’s and UEFA’s rules requiring new football competitions to be subject to their prior approval, and banning players from taking part in those competitions, were “unlawful.”
“There is no framework for the FIFA and UEFA rules ensuring that they are transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate,” the court said.
“Similarly, the rules giving FIFA and UEFA exclusive control over the commercial exploitation of the rights related to those competitions are such as to restrict competition, given their importance for the media, consumers and television viewers in the European Union.”
The court found that organising football competitions is an economic activity and “therefore must comply with the competition rules and respect the freedom of movement.”
The court made clear that its ruling “does not mean that a competition such as the Super League project must necessarily be approved,” saying that it was a verdict on FIFA’s and UEFA’s rules in general, rather than any specific project.
Nevertheless, the decision is a significant boost for the Super League project, which seeks to replace UEFA’s Champions League.
“We’ve won the right to compete,” Bernd Reichart, A22 Sports CEO said. “UEFA’s monopoly is over. Football is free. Now the clubs won’t suffer threats and punishments. They’re free to decide their own future.”
UEFA released a statement on Thursday arguing it had already updated its rules following the Super League’s attempted launch.
“This ruling does not signify an endorsement or validation of the so-called ‘Super League,'” UEFA said. “It rather underscores a pre-existing shortfall within UEFA’s pre-authorisation framework, a technical aspect that has already been acknowledged and addressed in June 2022.
“UEFA is confident in the robustness of its new rules, and specifically that they comply with all relevant European laws and regulations.”
An initial 12 clubs — the Premier League’s Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, LaLiga’s Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid and Serie A’s AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus — signed up as members of the breakaway Super League for its launch on April 18, 2021, in a move that stunned the football world.
The project, led by Real Madrid’s Florentino Perez and Juventus’ Andrea Agnelli, was born of frustration at UEFA’s dominant role as Champions League organisers and unhappiness at the competition’s format and revenue model.
Vocal opposition from football’s governing bodies, fans and politicians — in particular, in England — quickly led nine of those clubs to announce their withdrawal from the project, with just Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus remaining as public backers.
“From today, clubs will be masters of their own futures,” Perez said on Thursday. “Our right to propose and push for European competitions which modernise our sport and attract fans around the world has been recognised.
“Real Madrid will keep working for the good of football. We’ll keep defending a modern project, totally compatible with national competitions, open to everyone, based on sporting merit, with effective financial fair play.
“Nobody said that ending a monopoly after so many decades would be easy. … From today, the present and future of European football is at last in the hands of the clubs, the players and the fans. Our destiny belongs to us.”
Barcelona issued a statement on Thursday expressing its “satisfaction” with the court ruling and saying it “paves the way for a new elite level football competition in Europe.”
The case arrived at the European Court of Justice after the Super League filed a lawsuit with a Spanish court in 2021, asking for protection to pre-empt possible UEFA sanctions.
The judge in Madrid granted a preliminary injunction, before passing the case on to the court in Luxembourg for a verdict.
Since October 2022, A22 Sports — led by Reichart — has been looking to relaunch and rebrand the Super League, proposing a more open, meritocratic format.
“For the fans: we’ll broadcast all the Super League games for free,” Reichart said on Thursday. “For the clubs: club income and solidarity payments in football are guaranteed.”
Spain’s LaLiga and its president Javier Tebas have been vocal critics of the project, arguing that the competition would damage and undermine national leagues.
“The ruling confirms what we’ve always said: anybody can organise competitions outside the UEFA and FIFA ambit, that can’t be prohibited, and nobody has doubted that. The legal question is the status of these competitions within the UEFA and FIFA ecosystem,” Tebas said. “In 2022, UEFA established a procedure for the authorization of new competitions, which the Super League or any other competition could make use of.”
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