2023-12-21 11:00:33
Brussels / Barcelona The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled this Thursday morning that FIFA does not have the right to sanction and expel from its competitions the participants in the Superliga. The ruling also opens the door for European clubs to create a new tournament outside of UEFA. Football can change from today. The promoters of the Superliga compare the milestone reached today with the hinge that the Bosman case involved almost three decades ago.
The ruling gives hope to the project promoted by different major European clubs and which is still supported by Barça and Madrid, who need more income to guarantee their economic viability. The verdict says that FIFA and UEFA have a monopoly on the organization of world football and the authorization of new competitions, and that this is against European law. In this regard, he points out that they committed an abuse of power by blocking the creation of the new tournament and threatening its promoters and participants.
“The Court believes that the organization of club football competitions and the exploitation of broadcasting rights are clearly economic activities. Accordingly, these activities must maintain the rules on competition and freedom of movement despite the fact that the sport , as an economic activity, presents specific characteristics, such as the existence of associations with regulatory powers of control and sanction”, introduces the highest judicial body of the European Union.
“When a company in a dominant position has the power to determine under what conditions potentially competing companies may enter the market, that power […] it must be accompanied by transparent, objective and non-discriminatory or proportionate criteria. Therefore, the faculties of UEFA and FIFA are not subject to any criteria of this nature. Consequently, they abuse their dominant position,” continues the published letter, which adds: “These authorization, control and sanctioning rules, taking into account their arbitrary nature, must be labeled an unjustified restriction on the free provision of services”.
The ECJ gives free rein to the Superliga, but does not accompany it with a frame of flowers and violets, as it urges the conflicting parties to negotiate a more profitable future for everyone. “A competition like this should not necessarily be authorized. As only general questions have been raised about the rules of FIFA and UEFA, the CJEU does not rule on this specific project,” states the state based in Luxembourg, which puts in the hands of commercial courts the disputes relating to the exploitation of the broadcasting rights of European football and a more equitable distribution of the pie. Of course, the verdict makes it clear that FIFA and UEFA have rules that, in relation to the management of broadcasting rights, “may harm clubs, media companies, consumers and television viewers by preventing them from benefiting from new competitions”.
“Football is free”
The reaction of A22, the company that promotes the Super League, was not long in coming: “We have won the right to compete. UEFA’s monopoly is over. Football is free. Now the clubs will not suffer threats and sanctions. They are free to decide their own future. For fans: we will broadcast all Super League matches for free. For clubs: revenue and payments in solidarity with football are guaranteed.” These are the words of Bernd Reichart, CEO of this company.
A story that began in April 2021
This series began in April 2021, when a dozen major European football clubs came together to create a new competition, especially to deal with the financial difficulties that many of them are going through, such as Barça or Real Madrid Over time, however, the project began to lose support and a sheet was lost with each wash.
FIFA’s forceful threat of sanctions against the promoting clubs and those participating already scared and pushed back different teams from the new tournament, until only Barça, Madrid and Juventus remained, although the Italian team also decided abandon the project last summer. Nor did it help, of course, the head-on opposition of the different state federations, who saw their negotiations in jeopardy, of the European Club Association (ECA), of different state executives in Europe or of the European Commission itself.
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