Europe’s top court ruled on Thursday that moves by football governing bodies UEFA and FIFA to stifle the creation of a rival Super League had broken EU law.
“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 ruled.
The summary of the written judgment stressed that its ruling doesn’t necessarily mean that the Super League project should now be authorised, just that FIFA and UEFA have been “abusing a dominant position” in the football market.
Stumped for gift ideas? This festive season, give the gift that keeps on giving. Gift a Kayo subscription from just $25 a month!
A22 Sports, the company promoting the Super League project, claimed victory.
“We have won the right to compete. The UEFA monopoly is over. Football is free,” the firm’s CEO Bernd Reichart declared in a social media post from the A22 account.
Spain’s La Liga reacted angrily to the ruling, declaring it is “a selfish and elitist model.”
The two heavyweights of Spanish football Real Madrid and Barcelona had been the final two clubs who remained proponents of the Super League, but La Liga has firmly opposed to the concept.
“Today, more than ever, we reiterate that the ‘Super League’ is a selfish and elitist model,” La Liga posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“Anything that is not fully open, with direct access only through the domestic leagues, season by season, is a closed format.”
Discussion about this post