Majority of EU opposes European Super League in court: UEFA

The majority of the member states of the European Union have
sided with UEFA at the European Court of Justice in formally opposing the Super
League project.

According to UEFA, 16 of the 27 EU members filed written
submissions against the league to the court in Luxembourg by Monday’s deadline.
The court has been asked by a judge in Madrid to examine if UEFA and FIFA have monopoly control of the sport.

UEFA said the 16 nations include Spain and Italy — home
countries of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus. These are the three clubs
that are leading the 12-club Super League company’s legal fight against the
European football governing body. Germany is also expected to oppose the Super
League.

The European court is expected to hold a public hearing in
the first half of next year. A ruling could take several more months.

EU member states want to protect the “European Sports
Model,” which gives soccer its exemptions from competition laws. The model
defends the role elite and grassroots sports play in European life when they
are part of the same pyramid of competitions and funding open to everyone
through promotion and relegation.

The Super League project, which was announced in April but
quickly collapsed, was to break away from the Champions League and run its own
20-team competition. Fifteen invited clubs from Europe’s five wealthiest soccer
markets would have had protected status while the other five places would have
been open to other clubs.

The 12 original Super League members filed legal suits at
the same time in a Madrid commercial court against soccer’s governing bodies.
The clubs object to the three-fold role of UEFA and FIFA as regulators of
soccer, commercial operators with their own competitions, and gatekeepers with
authority to limit rivals.

Although the Super League project ended within 48 hours —
after the six English clubs withdrew amid a fierce backlash from fans and
politicians — the legal contest continues in their name.

The judge in Madrid asked the European court in Luxembourg
to examine the soccer bodies’ authority over organizing competitions and their
right to sanction challenges to that authority.

In May, UEFA announced settlement agreements with the nine
Super League members who withdrew. That included paying millions of dollars in
fines and forfeiting future prize money, plus larger financial penalties for
taking part in any similar project.

UEFA annulled those settlements last month, pending the
European case, but said disciplinary action could be revived after the judgment.

(With AP inputs)