The Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Athanasios Rantos, said on Thursday (15) that UEFA and FIFA acted within the law when they threatened to adopt sanctions against clubs that intended to adhere to the Super League proposal.
Super League clubs can promote their own competition “outside the UEFA and FIFA ecosystem, but cannot simultaneously continue to participate in competitions organized by FIFA and UEFA without the prior authorization of the confederations,” said Rantos.
In his presentation, the Advocate General highlighted that EU competition rules do not restrict the ability of UEFA or FIFA to threaten with sanctions clubs that participate “in a project to create a new competition that could affect the objectives pursued. legitimately by those confederations of which they are members”.
The Advocate General’s opinion is not binding, but generally anticipates positions that are later supported by the court.
The TJUE must rule in 2023 on an alleged abuse of power by the two confederations to exclude clubs participating in the Super League from their competitions.
The Super League initiative was announced in 2021 by a group that initially had the support of 12 major clubs on the continent.
