A Spanish commercial court in Madrid has ruled in favour of the European Super League (ESL), faulting world football governing body FIFA and European football governing body UEFA for threatening to ban any club that joins the breakaway league.
The court ruled on Monday, May 27 that the football governing bodies were practising anti-competitive behaviours and abusing their dominant position, a decision which follows a similar ruling by the European Court of Justice in December that sided with ESL.
A22 Sports Management, the company behind the ESL, had brought the case against UEFA, FIFA the Spanish Football Federation, (RFEF) and Spain’s La Liga at Madrid’s commercial court.
Top clubs in Europe including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Inter Milan, AC Milan Juventus and Juventus announced in 2021 that they had joined a breakaway ESL.
However, the clubs were met with strong opposition from FIFA, UEFA, league organisers and fans, prompting all the English clubs involved to quickly backtrack on their plans and some of the clubs were subsequently fined by UEFA, excluding Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus for legal reasons.
Reacting to the court decision, UEFA said the court “has not given the green light to, nor has it approved, projects like the Super League”, while La Liga added the court “did not endorse” the project.
Bernd Reichart, chief executive of A22, disagrees with both UEFA and La Liga’s position, saying the ruling meant “the era of the monopoly is now definitely over” and was “an important step towards a truly competitive and sustainable club football landscape in Europe”.