This private tournament project, competitor of those of UEFA, had strongly divided European football and led the body that governs competitions on the old continent to utter threats of sanctions with regard to the clubs involved.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) agreed to UEFA, Thursday, December 15, in the case of the project of a closed competition bringing together the richest clubs. The latter believes that the European football body was in its law when it threatened to sanction clubs on the initiative of the project. In this dispute engaged with a Madrid judge and then subject to the Luxembourg Court, the decision is not expected before the beginning of 2023, but the conclusions of the Advocate General are frequently followed by the judges.
The question asked at the CJEU is whether UEFA, which regulates European football while organizing the Champions League, the Europa League and the Europa Conference League, abuses its dominant position by wanting to sanction the mutine clubs At the initiative of this private and semi-farm tournament. Behind this apparently technical question is not only played for the future of club football on the old continent, but more broadly the possibility for sports authorities to protect their competitions, far beyond the round ball.
“Football in Europe remains united”
For Advocate General Athanasios Rantos, UEFA was fully in its law. “The rules of FIFA and UEFA subjecting any new competition to prior authorization are compatible with the competition law of the Union,” he said. “Union competition rules do not prohibit FIFA, UEFA, their member federations or their national leagues to utter threats of sanctions against clubs affiliated with said federations when the latter Participate in a project to create a new competition which would risk undermining the legitimate objectives pursued by these federations of which they are members, “he said.
UEFA welcomed this “unequivocal” position, seeing it as an encouraging step “towards preservation” of the “democratic governance structure” of European football. “Football in Europe remains united and firmly opposed to the super league or any dissent proposal that would threaten the European sports ecosystem,” she added In a press release .