FIFA/UEFA: "Monopolies are not welcome in the European Union" (law experts)

"Monopolies are not welcome in the European Union (EU) and are generally detrimental to any economy. Although sport is considered a special sector by the EU Treaties, the European legislator has never really defined the scope of this specificity. This has created a vacuum, which is currently being filled - in a self-proclaimed manner - by UEFA and FIFA, in a system that mixes, among other things, amateur and top-level club football," state nine Spanish and Italian experts in law (see below) in an article entitled "Another football for Europe" published in the French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche on 11/09/2022.

"The current system lacks transparency and relies on players based in Switzerland, outside the EU. It also means that the EU does not benefit from the economic potential and financial benefits of European football. The economic weight of sport is equivalent to 2% of the EU's GDP and represents 3% in terms of employment. Delegating the management of our biggest sporting events to organisations outside the EU means that we are giving up the economic benefits created by…