Court ‘ruling does not signify an endorsement of super league’: UEFA

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on December 21, 2023 shows the UEFA logo (top) at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon on December 15, 2014 and the FIFA logo (bottom) at the FIFA Executive Football Summit in Istanbul on February 15, 2019. – Europe’s top court ruled on December 21, 2023 that moves by football governing bodies UEFA and FIFA to stifle the creation of a rival Super League had broken EU law. “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 European Court of Justice ruled. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI and OZAN KOSE / AFP)

UEFA said Thursday’s ruling by Europe’s top court that it and FIFA had broken EU law to stifle the creation of a rival Super League “does not signify an endorsement or validation of” the breakaway competition.

UEFA continued: “It rather underscores a pre-existing shortfall within UEFA’s pre-authorisation framework, a technical aspect that has already been acknowledged and addressed in June 2022.

“UEFA is confident in the robustness of its new rules, and specifically that they comply with all relevant European laws and regulations.”

The ruling by the European Court of Justice was based on UEFA rules prior to the changing of them in 2022.

“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 ruled.

The summary of the written judgment stressed that its ruling does not necessarily mean that the Super League project should now be authorised, just that FIFA and UEFA have