2023-12-21 11:29:40
Luka Modric of Real Madrid and Ilkay Gundogan of FC Barcelona during a match between the two teams on October 28, 2023 in Barcelona. NACHO DOCE / REUTERS
Four days before Christmas, were Real Madrid and FC Barcelona going to open their presents a little early? The question tormented the world of football, suspended by a decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The body responsible for ensuring compliance with European law ruled on Thursday, December 21, in the case of the Super League, a semi-private competition project competing with the Champions League. The CJEU considered that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the International Football Federation (FIFA) exercise a monopoly contrary to European law on freedom of competition, agreeing with the promoters of the Super League. A decision that could reshape the future of European and world football.
“The rules of FIFA and UEFA requiring their prior authorization the creation of any project for a new interclub football competition, such as the Super League, and prohibiting clubs and players from participating in it, under penalty sanctions, are illegal”considers the Court in his judgmentto the extent that their “powers are not governed by any criteria ensuring their transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate nature”. However, the CJEU has not ruled on the legitimacy of the Super League project.
The Court therefore did not follow the opinion of its general advocateone year earlier. “FIFA rules [la fédération internationale] and UEFA [la fédération européenne] subjecting any new competition to prior authorization are compatible with Union competition law.had considered Athanasios Rantos, on December 15, 2022, considering that UEFA was within its rights when it threatened to sanction the formations at the initiative of the Super League, which had tried to implode continental football in April 2021.
Shortly after the decision, UEFA claimed that the ruling “rather highlights a pre-existing gap” in UEFA regulations, “a technical aspect which has already been recognized” and corrected in June 2022 with new texts. On Thursday, the European Club Association (ECA), the Football Supporters Europe association and the Spanish Football League (Liga) renewed their support for UEFA and denounced any plans for a private league.
An attempt aborted in less than 48 hours in 2021
The CJEU’s judgment was scrutinized as rarely for this high authority. Like its predecessor, the Court of Justice of the European Communities, whose Bosman judgment in 1995 had reshaped continental football by liberalizing the transfer market, “the future of European football will depend on the answers that the Court provides to issues which are mainly linked to competition law and, incidentally, to fundamental freedoms”considered the Advocate General in his conclusions.
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