The European Super League competition has been dealt another blow as its claim that UEFA’s governance of European football constitutes an illegal monopoly under EU competition law was rejected by the European Court of Justice’s Advocate General.
Advocate General Athanasios Rantos ruled that the EU competition law “did not prohibit FIFA, UEFA, their member federations or their national leagues from issuing threats of sanctions against clubs affiliated to those federations when those clubs participate in a project to set up a new competition.”
While the European Super League Company is free to establish a competition that is not affiliated with UEFA or FIFA, it along with participating teams could not have any involvement in UEFA and FIFA competitions at the same time without authorization from those bodies.
Because of this ruling, the European Super League Company and participating clubs would need to break away from the existing soccer ecosystem in Europe in its entirety in order to pursue its project.
Plans for the proposed European Super League were launched on April 18, 2021, when an announcement of the competition and the participation of 12 of Europe’s top clubs was made. Following a barrage of public criticism, however, the project was halted.
