European Super League: Court verdict and its impact on football

Europe's top court on Thursday made a landmark decision, ruling that moves by football governing bodies Uefa and Fifa to hinder the creation of breakaway European Super League had broken the law.

The proposed league, which initially involved six top teams from England, three from Italy and three from Spain, fell apart just days after its creation in 2021 following a public uproar, as well as threats from world governing body Fifa and European counterparts Uefa, stating that any player or club taking part would be expelled from their competitions.

Thereafter, all the English clubs involved pulled out of the project, followed by Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan.

The breakaway competition started legal action to protect its position and the court was asked to rule on points of EU law by a Madrid tribunal. The clubs accused Uefa of breaching European law by allegedly abusing its market dominance.

"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.

A22 Sports, the company behind the ESL project, claimed victory following the verdict.

"We have won the right to compete. The Uefa monopoly is over. Football is free," CEO Bernd Reichart declared in a social media post from the A22 account.

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For now, the Super League has not received the green signal to go ahead. The summary of the written judgment made it clear that its ruling doesn't mean that the Super League project has now been authorised. It only stated that Fifa and Uefa have been "abusing a dominant position" in the football market.

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