With Christmas just four days away, will Real Madrid and Barcelona get to open their presents a little early? That was the question on everyone's mind as the football world awaited a decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). On Thursday, December 21, the body responsible for ensuring compliance with European law ruled on the issue of the Super League, a semi-private competition that would compete with the Champions League. The CJEU ruled that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Fédération Internationale de Football (FIFA) were exercising a monopoly in breach of European law on free competition, siding with the promoters of the Super League in a decision that could reshape the future of European and world football.
The Court stated in its ruling that "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," insofar as "there is no framework for the FIFA and UEFA rules ensuring that they are transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate." However, the CJEU did not rule on the legitimacy of the Super League project.
The Court therefore did not follow the opinion of its Advocate General issued a year earlier. "The FIFA-UEFA rules under which any new competition is subject to prior approval are compatible with EU competition law." On December 15, 2022, Athanasios Rantos ruled that UEFA was in the right when it threatened to sanction the clubs behind the Super League initiative, which sought to upend the world of European football in April 2021.
Shortly after the decision, UEFA stated that the ruling "rather highlights a pre-existing shortcoming" in UEFA's regulations, "a technical aspect that has already been recognized" and corrected in June 2022 with new texts. On Thursday, the European Club Association (ECA), Football Supporters Europe, and the Spanish Football League (Liga) renewed their support for UEFA and denounced any plans for a private league.
A failed attempt in less than 48 hours in 2021
The CJEU's ruling received an unusual level of scrutiny from this high court. Like its predecessor, the Court of Justice of the European Communities, whose Bosman ruling in 1995 transformed continental football by liberalizing the transfer market, "the future of European football will turn on the answers given by the Court to problems related primarily to competition law and, secondarily, to fundamental freedoms," the Advocate General said in his opinion.
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