2023-12-21 19:30:57
It was on the eve of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its highly anticipated ruling on the dispute between the Super League and the Union of European Associations (UEFA) and the International Football Federation (FIFA).
The CJEU ruled, Thursday, December 21, that UEFA and FIFA exercised, in 2021, a monopoly contrary to European law on freedom of competition by opposing the creation of a rival competition to the Champions League and by threatening clubs and players who participate in it with exclusion from international competitions.
In this sense, the Court ruled in favor of the promoters of the Super League. However, the “long night” of football should not fall imminently: the arrival of a European secessionist competition still remains hypothetical.
The Super League began on a Sunday evening in April 2021, at midnight. In a press release, twelve of the biggest clubs on the continent – led by Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin – announced the creation of a quasi-closed league aimed at “save football”, and, above all, to maximize your income. Faced with the outcry from supporters, institutions and politicians, the project collapsed in less than forty-eight hours.
The threats of sanctions brandished by the national leagues and the federations also got the better of the desires of most of the rebel groups, which quickly fell into line. But the sea serpent of a private league which would supplant the Champions League – and which has been circulating for more than twenty years – has continued to exist. Particularly on a legal level.
A competition project for 64 clubs
Following the CJEU ruling, the company A22 Sports Management, promoter of the semi-private league, announced with great fanfare the upcoming launch of“a new open European competition”with “64 clubs divided into three leagues” – and 32 clubs divided into two leagues for its women’s version.
Welcoming a decision which has “end to the UEFA monopoly”, the German Bernd Reichard, its CEO, presented a new version very far from the first Super League. This would not include “no permanent members” and would have a promotion-relegation system – at least, to some extent.
The one who has embodied, since October 2022, the face of a competition which was in the past criticized for its opacity has revealed nothing regarding the calendar. And he refused to mention the clubs potentially interested in the adventure – his detractors objecting that there are hardly any, with the exception of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, the final “survivors” of the original project.
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