EU Policy. Court ruling in Super League case puts sports status in play

In late 1995, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered its famous Bosman judgment which allowed players to move to a new club at the end of their contracts without a transfer fee.

That judgment paved the way for players to enjoy the same freedom of movement rights as employees in other sectors with the effect of increasing footballer agents' negotiating powers during contract talks.

More than twenty years later, with final judgment on the breakaway European Super League project established in defiance of Europe’s football governing body UEFA due early tomorrow morning, a December decision of the Luxembourg-based EU top Court has the potential once again to transform the football landscape.

These final and unappealable rulings of the 15-judge Highest chamber were scheduled on the very last day of the 2023 Court calendar.

The outcome will be presented together with two connected rulings on athletes sanctioned by the International Skating Union for taking part in external events and on the compatibility with the EU law of UEFA home-grown rules setting a quota of locally trained players.

Whatever the practical outcome of tomorrow’s verdict, it will set a milestone in the relationship between EU competition law and sports governance in Europe whose repercussions will reach beyond football.

It began in late April 2021 when twelve of the world’s largest and wealthiest football clubs revealed plans to start a new midweek international competition, called the European Super League.

In theory, the breakaway tournament would have competed with the existing Champions League organised by Europe’s football governing body UEFA headquartered in Nyon, Switzerland, but Super League clubs wanted to keep playing in