MADRID (Reuters) – A Spanish court has ordered soccer governing bodies FIFA and UEFA to stop opposing a parallel European league known as the European Super League (ESL), finding the organisations engaged in anti-competitive behaviour and abused their dominant position.
Judge Sofia Gil Garcia ruled that football's governing body violated European Union law by banning clubs from taking part in a proposed new professional football championship, according to a court statement.
In his ruling, Gil Garcia ordered FIFA and UEFA to immediately repeal all past anti-competitive behaviour.
The lawsuit was filed by A22 Sports Management, the sports development company behind the plans to create the ESL, against the Spanish Football Federation, La Liga, UEFA and FIFA, who had blocked the ESL.
“The era of monopolies is definitely over,” A22 CEO Bernd Reichardt said in a statement after the ruling, calling it “an important step towards a truly competitive and sustainable European club football.”
Reichert added that UEFA had stifled innovation for decades and clubs “shouldn't fear the threat of sanctions just for having ideas and conversations”.
Gil Garcia's sentence follows a similar ruling by the European Court of Justice in December.
Both La Liga and UEFA argued that the ruling did not explicitly endorse the creation of a Super League.
“The ruling does not give third parties the right to organise competitions without authorisation and does not relate to future projects or amendments to existing projects,” UEFA said in a statement.
A proposal for an independent league of Europe's 12 biggest clubs in 2021 sparked widespread protests among fans and threats of sanctions from UEFA, leading nine clubs to decide to pull out.
A22 had argued that UEFA and FIFA had monopolized the sport and violated EU competition and free movement law.
The ECJ ruled against UEFA and FIFA but did not comment specifically on whether the ESL would be able to go ahead.
Nine top European clubs, including Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, announced the plan in April 2021.
But the move collapsed within 48 hours after widespread public outcry forced Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid to pull out.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and David Latona; Additional reporting by Trevor Stines; Editing by Charlie Devereux and Ed Osmond)