On Thursday, Europe’s highest court struck UEFA a scathing legal blow, but an effort by rival Super League organizers to launch a new tournament encountered a stout defensive wall of clubs and supporters.
In response to a question from Spanish justices, the European Court of Justice concluded that UEFA violated EU law by exploiting its “dominant position” in European football to suffocate an upstart breakaway league of top teams.
However, when the Super League’s promoters used the court win to announce plans for a new 64-team competition to compete with or replace UEFA’s flagship Champions League, they were welcomed with ridicule and rejection.
Only two teams, Real Madrid and Barcelona, remain officially committed to the Super League proposal.
“We are not going to try to stop them.” “They can make anything they want,” scoffed UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin. “I hope they start their fantastic competition as soon as possible … with two clubs.”
‘Football is a free sport.’
In early 2021, 12 of Europe’s biggest clubs announced their participation in the proposed Super League, sparking a furious backlash from fans and a stark warning from UEFA that clubs and players who participated would be barred from competitions such as the World Cup.
Within 48 hours, nine of the 12 rebel teams backed down, including six from the English Premier League, and the initiative failed, forcing promoters A22 Sports Management to file a legal challenge in Spanish courts, who submitted the case to the ECJ.
In response to the danger posed by the Super League, UEFA announced a substantial revamp of the Champions League beginning in 2024, with 36 clubs instead of 32. The teams will compete in a single league tournament, which would replace the existing group stage and guarantee each team at least eight matches.
On Thursday, Europe’s highest court issued its decision, which seems to be a significant blow to UEFA.
“The FIFA and UEFA rules making any new interclub football project subject to their prior approval, such as the Super League, and prohibiting clubs and players from playing in those competitions, are unlawful,” the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided.
Because UEFA has a monopoly on establishing regulations and organizing events such as the Champions League, its criteria for authorizing rival competitions must be “transparent, objective, non-discriminatory, and proportionate.”
“However, FIFA and UEFA’s powers are not subject to any such criteria.” As a result, FIFA and UEFA are abusing their dominating position,” the court decided.
A22 Sports Management celebrated the decision by declaring victory and announcing the creation of a new Super League project with 64 clubs from around Europe divided into three divisions, promotion and relegation within their system, and free TV streaming to supporters via a dedicated app.
“We’ve earned the right to compete.” The UEFA monopoly has ended. Football is free,” said the company’s CEO Bernd Reichart in a social media post from the A22 account. “Clubs are now free from the threat of sanction and free to determine their own futures.”
However, several major clubs, including some who had provisionally supported the previous endeavor, have said that they would not accept the current idea.
European champions Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur, all of whom were briefly involved in the 2021 dissident Super League campaign, have said that they “remain committed” to participating in UEFA tournaments.
Atletico Madrid, which was also a participant in the last breakaway, said, “The European football community does not support the European Super League.”
The CEO of German champions Bayern Munich, who were not among the breakaway 12, Jan-Christian Dreesen, stated a European Super League would be “an attack on the importance of national leagues… the door to the Super League remains closed at Bayern.”
The two Spanish behemoths, on the other hand, remained staunch supporters.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez applauded the court judgment, saying, “European club football will no longer be a monopoly.”
Fans will ‘fight it’.
In addition, Barcelona said that it will continue to sponsor the Super League.
Since its demise in early 2021, the first Super League project has been put on hold.
Many football supporters believed that a closed, US-style league with no promotion or relegation of clubs would damage the glory ambitions of lesser teams as well as the status of treasured national events.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE), an umbrella lobby organization, issued a statement after the decision, stating that “since 2021, FSE and fans across Europe have stood firm against a breakaway super league time and time again, and repeatedly called for greater protection of our game.”
“Whatever happens next, the Super League remains an ill-conceived project that jeopardizes European football’s future.” FSE, our members, and admirers all around Europe will keep fighting.”