An EU court unblocked soccer’s “Super League.” Can it still happen?

The “Super League” of European soccer was revived on Dec. 21 after the European Union’s top court ruled that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and FIFA defied competition law by blocking the breakaway project.

The ruling was praised by Real Madrid which, along with Barcelona, is leading the fight to form a rival competition to the Champions League.

“It has been fully recognized that the clubs have the right to propose and promote European competitions that modernize our sport and attract fans from all over the world,” Madrid president Florentino Pérez said. “Today, a Europe of freedoms has triumphed, and also football and its fans have triumphed.”

However, it was a backlash by fans especially in England and Germany against the original Super League proposal in April 2021 that helped to stop the project within 48 hours.

The outcry forced English clubs Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Arsenal; Italian clubs AC Milan and Inter Milan; and Spain’s Atletico Madrid to pull out of the project. Italy’s Juventus opted to pull out this year after their former chairman Andrea Agnelli, one of the figures behind the project, and the club’s board resigned in November 2022.

No new clubs immediately came forward to support Mr. Pérez’s vision.

The case was heard last year at the European Court of Justice after the Super League failed at launch more than two years ago. At the time, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin called the club leaders “snakes” and “liars.”

The company formed by 12 rebel clubs – now led by only Real Madrid and Barcelona – started legal action and the court was asked to rule on points of EU law by a Madrid tribunal.

“We have won the right to compete. The UEFA monopoly is over. Football is free,” said Bernd Reichart, the CEO of A22 Sports Management that promotes Super League. “Clubs are now free from the threat of sanctions and free to determine their own futures.”

Madrid-based A22 immediately announced new proposed competitions for men and women, saying young fans are “turning away” from soccer.

In a presentation streamed on YouTube, Mr. Reichart said there would be no permanent members of the new competition and they would remain committed to their domestic leagues. The league and knockout competition would also be played midweek so as not to impact domestic leagues.

The clubs accused UEFA of breaching European law by allegedly abusing its market dominance of soccer competitions.

“The FIFA and UEFA rules making any new interclub football project subject to their prior approval, such as the Super League, and prohibiting clubs and players from playing in those competitions, are unlawful,” the court said. “There is no framework for the FIFA and UEFA rules ensuring that they are transparent, objective, non-discriminatory, and proportionate.”

The court acknowledged FIFA and UEFA were abusing a dominant position and their rules on approval, control and sanctions “must be held to be unjustified restrictions on the freedom to provide services.”

“Allow me to tell the European clubs that we are at the beginning of a new time in which we can work freely through constructive dialogue, without threats, without acting against anything or anyone and with the aim of innovating and modernizing football to continue, fueling the passion of the fans,” said Mr. Pérez. 

While clearing the way for the Super League, the court also said it “does not mean that a competition such as the Super League project must necessarily be approved.”

“The Court, having been asked generally about the FIFA and UEFA rules, does not rule on that specific project in its judgment,” it concluded.

The Court of Justice’s ruling was the most anticipated sports decision since the so-called Bosman Ruling in 1995. That case upended soccer’s transfer system, drove up pay for top players who became free agents when contracts expired, and ultimately accelerated a wealth and competitive divide between rich clubs and the rest.

When the Super League was unveiled – a largely closed competition as an alternative to the UEFA-run Champions League – widespread condemnation hit the rebel clubs from England, Spain and Italy.

UEFA’s defense was that it protected the special place of sports in European society by running competitions in a pyramid structure open to all, and funded the grassroots of the game. This season, the Champions League included Royal Antwerp, which won its first Belgian title for 66 years, and Union Berlin, which rose into the German top division only in 2019.

The proposed 20-team Super League with locked-in places for up to 15 founders would have effectively replaced the Champions League and weakened the sporting and commercial appeal of domestic leagues.

The lack of relegation was fundamentally at odds with European soccer which, unlike elite U.S. sports leagues, has the risk and reward of moving up or down divisions based on performance.

“UEFA remains resolute in its commitment to uphold the European football pyramid, ensuring that it continues to serve the broader interests of society,” UEFA said. “We trust that the solidarity-based European football pyramid that the fans and all stakeholders have declared as their irreplaceable model will be safeguarded against the threat of breakaways by European and national laws.”

UEFA said it pledged to continue defending the central role of governing bodies in the European sports model.

Two years after the original idea collapsed, Super League promoters presented in February a new proposal for a multi-division competition involving up to 80 European soccer teams and operating outside of UEFA’s authority. The latest plans announced on Thursday would involve 64 men’s teams and 32 women’s clubs.

The European Club Association, which represents Europe’s top football clubs, reiterated its staunch opposition to the Super League.

“In short, the world of football moved on from the Super League years ago and progressive reforms will continue,” the group said. “All the recognized stakeholders of European and world football – spanning confederations, federations, clubs, leagues, players and fans – stand more united than ever against the attempts by a few individuals pursing personal agendas to undermine the very foundations and basic principles of European football.”

English clubs are still unlikely to join a revived plan. The English Premier League’s international appeal and financial power has grown in the past two years, and a U.K. government bill announced last month by King Charles proposed powers to block English teams from trying to join a breakaway league.

The Premier League Owners’ Charter states clubs “will not engage in the creation of new competition formats outside of the Premier League’s rules.”

The Spanish league said on Thursday “that the Super League is a selfish and elitist model. Anything that is not fully open, with direct access only through the domestic leagues, season by season, is a closed format.”

The court also noted that rules giving FIFA and UEFA exclusive control over the commercial exploitation of the media rights related to their competitions are “such as to be harmful to European football clubs, all companies operating in media markets and, ultimately, consumers and television viewers, by preventing them from enjoying new and potentially innovative or interesting competitions.”

Reichart of A22 said he will offer to fans “free viewing of all Super League matches,” and sent a message to clubs that “revenues and solidarity spending will be guaranteed” in the Super League.

The original announcement of the Super League sparked vehement protests from fans, and Football Supporters Europe said on Thursday there was “no place in European football for a breakaway super league.”

“Our clubs, our competitions, & our local communities need protection,” it said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Whatever comes next, the super league remains an ill-conceived project that endangers the future of European football.”

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writers James Robson contributed from Manchester, Tales Azzoni from Madrid, and Graham Dunbar from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Material from Reuters was used in this report.