Super League: "Short term, European football architecture won't be called into question" (C. Amson)

"While the decision on 21/12/2023 clearly opens a breach in UEFA's monopoly on the organisation of competitions in Europe, it does not appear, at least in the short term, to call into question the entire architecture of European football," said Charles Amson, a lawyer at the Paris Bar who specialises in sports law, in an analysis of the ruling handed down by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the European Super League project on 08/01/2024.

"The Court found that, at the time of the referral of the case to the Madrid Commercial Court (ESP), the rules put in place by UEFA prevented, in the absence of clarification of the criteria and procedures for the sanctions that could be taken against clubs participating in competitions not organised by UEFA, 'any undertaking organising a potentially competing competition from calling, in a meaningful way, on the resources available in the market, namely clubs and players, the latter being vulnerable - if they participate in a competition that has not had the prior approval': they were therefore contrary to Article 101(1) TFEU…