(Football news) The plans that had collapsed so dramatically two years prior seemed to be given new life by a verdict from the European Court of Justice, generating a heated debate all over again.
Real Madrid and Barcelona, among others, were jubilant about football being “free” from UEFA’s control, but the actual state of affairs is still complicated, riddled with legal problems and met with strong popular disapproval.
Following a European Court of Justice verdict on Thursday that UEFA and FIFA had acted “unlawfully” in their attempts to halt the proposed formation of the tournament and fine the participating teams back in 2021, the contentious topic surrounding the European Super League came up once more.
Having failed to provide appropriate terms and conditions to allow competitor promoters entry into the market, it was determined that they had “abused a dominant position” in the industry and had violated EU competition law.
A business by the name of A22 Sports then revealed their plan for a new version of the league in response to the verdict. This idea was supported by Real Madrid and Barcelona, the lead teams in the European Super League.
Although UEFA and FIFA have been quick to downplay its significance, the European Super League appeared to have won a big battle and to have suffered a huge setback as a result of the ECL verdict at first glance.
While several of the regulations that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled were illegal have since been altered, the ECJ was only applying the regulations that existed at the time of the original proposals for the European Super League.
In actuality, this means that FIFA and UEFA successfully shielded themselves against Thursday’s announcement more than a year in advance.
The concept of a European Super League is not new, even though the new ideas presented on Thursday were closely tied to the original concepts that were unveiled about three months ago.
In fact, since the 1960s, the topic has been explored in almost every decade, and Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid, has been advocating for something akin to this since at least 2009.
The year 2021 marked the most significant milestone towards the realization of those plans when twelve clubs—Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan, and AC Milan—signed on and declared their intention to secede from UEFA.
Huge demonstrations were started by fans, players, clubs, and governing bodies in response to that move, which was a seismic shock to the football world and threatened to alter the fundamental nature of the sport.
The launch was so disastrous that it quickly collapsed in a way that embarrassed the 12 clubs, with no PR plan and very little public support from the real people participating instead of their clubs.
Under constant fan pressure, all six English teams fled the contract shortly, and Atletico, Inter, and Milan soon followed.
Because Andrea Agnelli was instrumental in the creation of the new competition, it took Juventus longer to announce their intention to withdraw from the plans, but in the end, they did as well.
Soon after, steps were taken to ensure that anything similar wouldn’t occur again, but one of those barriers has been removed by Thursday’s decision, which noticeably defied the Advocate General’s first view from last December.
Also read: Which clubs have said no to European Super League
