The Super League of Spain and UEFA they return to face tomorrow in a Madrid court, before which the promoters of that competition denounced the governing body of European football and FIFA for abuse of a dominant position almost three years ago.
The parties will defend their different positions on the project before Judge Sofía Gil, who must decide if the UEFA, With its 2021 rules, it abused its dominant position to prevent the creation of the Super League and put obstacles in the way of free competition.
The head of the commercial court No. 17 of Madrid must take into account in her decision the opinion issued by the European justice last December.
The European ruling was a response to questions posed by Judge Manuel Ruiz de Lara, Gil’s predecessor at the head of the court, and before whom the promoters of the Super League presented their complaint.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled last December that the FIFA and UEFA rules “that make any project for a new club football competition, such as the Super League, subject to prior authorization and that prohibit clubs and players from participating in it, under penalty of sanctions , they are illegal.”
The CJEU, which rules on the FIFA and UEFA rules in force in 2021, at the time the procedure was launched, estimates that the powers of these two organizations have not been accompanied by “criteria that allow guaranteeing its transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate nature”, which is why it considers that “they are abusing their dominant position”.
The Court specified, however, that this does not mean that the Super League project “must necessarily be authorized”, stressing that it is ruling in a general way on the rules of FIFA and UEFA, and not on that “specific project.”
Following this decision, the general director of A22, a company promoting the Super League, Bernd Reichart stated in a message on X that they had “won the right to compete. UEFA’s monopoly is over. Football is free.”
The president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, also celebrated that “European football is not and will never be a monopoly again.”
The merengue team, together with Barcelona, They are the only ones that remain in the project of the twelve large European clubs that announced in April 2021 the creation of their own private competition, with enormous commercial potential, anticipating the announcement of the reform of the Champions League.
Mutiny put down
The strong opposition from sectors of fans and the great organized commotion, especially in England, soon led to nine clubs in the project publicly renouncing to continue in it. The “riot” was put down in less than 48 hours.
Since that announcement and the subsequent complaint in the Madrid court, the positions of the two parties have been changing.
The UEFA adopted new rules in 2022 to try to better adapt to European legislation when authorizing new competitions.
This led him to affirm after the CJEU decision that “this ruling does not mean an approval or validation of the so-called Super League. He rather highlights a pre-existing gap in UEFA’s regulations, pointing out his “confidence” in the legality of the new rules.
For its part, A22 announced in December that the Super League, initially closed, would be a tournament with 64 teams, “without any permanent members”, divided into three categories, with a promotion and relegation system, promising its dissemination through a platform streaming, but without specifying a schedule or which clubs would participate.
LaLiga, very belligerent against the Super League, published a new video on its social networks denouncing that this project “frontally attacks the European solidarity model” and would make the domestic leagues lose value.
More complications
The European Super League must change its name after the Danish league, known as 3F Super League, received “full approval” from the European Union (EU), confirming that “a possible future European league cannot be allowed to register the Super League brand as a trademark,” according to a statement from the continental competition.
“Superliga is a trademark jointly owned by Danish clubs, so a possible future European league cannot be allowed to register the Super League brand as a trademark in the EU; “The EU trademark authority has now given its full approval to the Danish clubs,” the Danish competition reported.
Source: Ambito
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