Spanish judges warned soccer’s main governing bodies not to interfere in preparations for a breakaway European Super League including some of the game’s top clubs.
(Bloomberg) — Spanish judges warned soccer’s main governing bodies not to interfere in preparations for a breakaway European Super League including some of the game’s top clubs.
A Madrid court backed an earlier order for FIFA and UEFA not to carry out their threats to punish teams and players taking part in the project, according to the Jan.
30 decision seen by Bloomberg News. Such conduct by FIFA and UEFA is “particularly serious” coming from organizations “holding a monopoly” in the football market and abusing their dominance to block a potential competitor, the judges said.
The super league project, which initially involved six teams from England, three from Italy and three from Spain, crumbled in 2021, just days after its creation, following a public uproar, as well as threats from World Cup organizer FIFA and European counterpart UEFA that any player or club taking part would be expelled from their competitions.
The collapse was inevitable after all the English clubs involved pulled out of the project, followed by Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan.
In October, A22 Sports Management, the company behind the new tournament, hired Bernd Reichart as new chief executive officer in an effort to revamp it and overcome fan opposition.
‘Obstructive Steps’
Reichart said the court decision “allows A22 to freely continue the project of creating a new and exciting European football competition.”
“It confirms that UEFA’s monopoly position cannot be used to pressure or threaten clubs, players or companies willing to innovate and invigorate competition in professional football,” he said.
“We will therefore continue our dialog with football stakeholders in a new and more appropriate environment free from threats and other obstructive steps taken by UEFA and other bodies.”
While the Spanish court’s stance is a boost for the super league, its judges will have to wait for a ruling from European Union’s top court in Luxembourg before making a final decision.
An adviser from the EU tribunal sided with UEFA and FIFA in a preliminary opinion issued in December.
The European Super League “is free to set up its own independent football competition” but teams can’t at the same time “continue to participate in the football competitions organized by FIFA and UEFA without the prior authorization of those federations,” the EU court’s Advocate General Athanasios Rantos said at the time.
UEFA said in a statement Tuesday that it notes that the Madrid court’s decision “recognizes the overriding significance” of the proceedings pending before the EU judges.
Following Rantos’s “unequivocal opinion in support of UEFA’s central mission to govern European football,” UEFA said that it now awaits the EU court’s judgment, “which will then be notified to the Commercial Court in Madrid so it can be applied in the main proceedings.”
–With assistance from Hugo Miller.
(Updates with UEFA comment in last two paragraphs)
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