It believes that both organizations are imposing “unjustified” restrictions and orders them to cease their “anti-competitive” behavior. Currently, only Barça and Real Madrid support the Super League.
The judge of Madrid’s Commercial Court Number 17 has ruled that UEFA and FIFA have abused their dominant positions on the market and hindered free competition. This partially upholds FIFA’s claim. European Super League company SL (ESLC), owner of the Football Super League, a competition proposed by the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez. In its ruling, which was announced this Monday, the court considers that UEFA and FIFA did this by giving themselves the discretionary power to ban participation in alternative competitions and impose “unjustified and disproportionate” restrictions which are contrary to Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Judge Sofía Gil orders both organizations to stop these actions. ‘anti-competitive’ behaviour and it is forbidden to repeat them in the future. It also orders them to immediately eliminate all consequences of anti-competitive actions, such as sanctions proceedings or equivalent actions, that occurred before or during the duration of these proceedings.
A procedure that began on April 18, 2021, when the entity that promotes the Super League announced the launch of the project for a new professional football league and took actions to defend competition before the response from UEFA and FIFA.
The ruling partially affirms ESLC’s claim “because Defendants’ actions were not solely aimed at avoiding the development of a particular project, but rather at avoiding the implementation of a third competitor and changing the monopolistic system of the organization of competitions.” “.
The judge points out that a future ban cannot be imposed on any other project or modification of the one already presented, because “to admit the contrary would mean accepting some kind of ban or foreclosure of any football competition project carried out by the plaintiffs was presented. is not acceptable,” he says. This ruling is not final and may be appealed to section 28 of the Provincial Court of Madrid, the body competent in matters of a commercial nature.
It was in April 2021 when twelve European clubs, including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid, announced the creation of the Super League, but after threats from football’s governing bodies, only the Real Madrid, Barcelona and Italian side Juventus, which also eventually left the project.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
