The Super League, an open case after a year

Ang super league celebrates its first year of life on Monday and remains an open case, pending the actions of a Madrid court in which the promoting clubs denounced the monopoly of UEFA and of FIFA and also the expression of EU Court of Justice (CJEU) about.

The word of the European court will be key to the procedure conducted by the court of what Trade number 17 of Madridwho raised this question for a preliminary judgment on CJEU when promoters filed a complaint for abuse of the dominant position of FIFA and of UEFAby preventing competitions outside its scope.

The case expects shortly that the head of the Madrid court will also decide on the precautionary measures requested by the complainants, which are from Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) they were announced for after Easter, after a hearing held on them earlier this month.

Although when the clubs sued last year, the court granted the most basic precautionary measure -without listening to the parties-, which prevented the adoption of sanctions that UEFA tried to impose them, their retention is pending court decision.

What the judge has already arranged Sofia Gil Garciawho replaced last fall the head of the court that initiated the proceedings, Manuel Ruiz de Lara, and that he was not successfully challenged by UEFA Y The leagueis the pre-trial hearing of the case for next June 14.

At a hearing on April 8, the judge summoned the parties to try to reach an agreement or transaction between them, which would end the process, and if not, to precisely determine the purpose of the process and suggest and admit evidence. It also reports the possibility of using negotiation to try to resolve the conflict, including the use of mediation.

Diligence also expresses FIFA in a situation of procedural default, due to non -exit within the term to answer the request, and warns the agency that no further notice will be made until the final resolution of the process, in which case the occurrence of the same The leagueas of Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), as affected parties.

These actions of the court and the citizen initiative of the collective “Football Supporters Europe” (FSE), to encourage EU to protect “clubs, their communities and competitions”, with the slogans “no more super leagues” and “football is a social virtue that everyone owns”, is the latest in a hidden battle for twelve months.

Midnight on April 18, 2021, when the League The Spanish closed out its thirty -one days, twelve European clubs -Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Atlético de Madrid, Juventus, Milan, Inter, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham- gave it a name and form makes its creation official from the 2021-2022 season.

In the argument of addressing the instability of the economic model of European football, the project proposed to start working with 20 teams-the founders, three guests and five to be classified annually according to performance-, with matches during the week to honor national competitions.

Even months before there had been some noise, since the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, has called for an urgent reform of football to adapt it to the new times, and both FIFA and its confederations –UEFA, AFC, CAF, Concacaf, CONMEBOL and OFC– announced that they would not recognize a competition in Europe limited to certain clubs, the announcement caused a storm.

The threat of possible UEFA sanctions a few hours later coincided with the filing of a complaint with Mercantile Court number 17 of Madrid of the promoters -A22 SPORTS MANAGEMENT, SL and EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE COMPANY SL- and to the reaction, above all, of the fans of the English clubs, who took to the streets to protest against the project.

These protests, in addition to the denial of European Association of Leagues (EPFL)the World Football Forum (WLF), the European Club Association (ECA) and the professional footballers’ union (FIFPRO), preceded the resignation of English clubs, along with two Italian, Milan and Inter, and a Spanish, Atletico Madrid.

Since then, the Super League has undergone any football forum and the opinions of the parties remain conflicting and even impatient, as the president of UEFAAleksander Ceferin, who defined himself as “bored and tired of a project unrelated to football”.

“The clubs of super league they live in a parallel world ”, he said recently, while Florentino Pérez insisted that“ the Superliga is freedom ”and“ a project for clubs “to be masters of their destiny”, a destiny that remains full of certainty.