Thursday’s ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) appears unlikely to lead to any changes to the soccer landscape on the continent in the near future, after leagues, clubs, player representatives and fan groups immediately reiterated their opposition to any proposed Super League.
The ruling by Europe’s top court found that UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, as well as world body FIFA had been “abusing a dominant position” by submitting any new competitions to their prior approval.
Trying to prohibit clubs and players from taking part in those competitions was “unlawful,” the ECJ said.
Photo: AFP
Yet the ruling did not endorse the Super League, as it recognized the “specific context of professional football,” with the importance of “sporting merit” and of “ensuring a certain level of equal opportunity.”
That did not stop the promoters of the Super League, A22 Sports Management, quickly revealing a proposal for a 64-team men’s competition, split into three divisions.
It would be “based on sporting merit,” with no permanent members and with clubs remaining committed to their domestic leagues, A22 chief executive officer Bernd Reichart said.
Yet apart from Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid — who were among the initial group of 12 clubs who unsuccessfully tried to start a breakaway league in April 2021 — it is not clear who currently backs the plan.
Instead, almost everyone has come out in support of UEFA as the organizer of elite soccer in Europe, including those who have been unconvinced about the new format for the UEFA Champions League which is to be introduced from next season.
UEFA’s flagship competition is to feature 36 clubs next season, up from 32, with all participants going into a single league in which teams would play eight games, all against different sides, in what is known as the “Swiss system.”
It has had its detractors, but there is almost unanimous agreement that the current setup of European soccer, under the UEFA umbrella, is more palatable than anything the Super League’s promoters are offering.
The united front was displayed at a virtual news conference hosted by UEFA on Thursday and which featured representatives from the powerful European Club Association (ECA), the European Leagues grouping of more than 1,000 clubs in 31 nations, players union FIFPro and fans representatives at Football Supporters Europe (FSE).
“Real Madrid and Barcelona will not be saving European football and we don’t have to pay the price for their financial mismanagement,” FSE executive director Ronan Evain said. “It would be for the best of everyone if their promoters would just give up now.”
FIFPro Europe president David Terrier said that “the players have already said they are unanimously against this.”
The initial breakaway in 2021 failed to a large extent because opposition from supporters in England persuaded the six Premier League clubs involved to withdraw.
In any case, the English top flight has no desire to see its top teams become part of a breakaway competition, even if they would theoretically be able to compete in both.
“The Premier League reiterates its commitment to the clear principles of open competition that underpin the success of domestic and international club competitions,” the league said.
Bayern Munich remain against the idea of a Super League, as do Paris Saint-Germain, whose president Nasser al-Khelaifi is also chairman of the ECA.
Even Atletico Madrid — one of the original 12 rebel clubs — have now said they are against it.
All of that support has comforted UEFA and its president Aleksander Ceferin is confident that rules it implemented last year would in any case prevent a breakaway competition from seeing the light of day.
“The ECJ decision is based on old facts,” Ceferin said, convinced that the regulations governing international club competitions which it brought in last year reinforce UEFA’s position. “We are confident our new rules are fully in line with the ECJ’s judgement.”
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