Europe’s highest court declared on Thursday that actions taken by football governing bodies UEFA and FIFA to hinder the establishment of a competing Super League had violated EU law.
The European Court of Justice ruled that FIFA and UEFA regulations, which required prior approval for any new interclub football initiatives like the Super League and barred clubs and players from participating in such competitions, were unlawful.
The summary of the written judgment emphasized that the ruling did not necessarily imply automatic authorization of the Super League project. Instead, it highlighted FIFA and UEFA’s “abuse of a dominant position” in the football market.
A22 Sports, the entity advocating for the Super League project, claimed a victory following the ruling.
“We have won the right to compete. The UEFA monopoly is over. Football is free,” the firm’s CEO Bernd Reichart declared in a social media post from the A22 account.
