UEFA set to ‘lose power’ but will football’s Super League take off?
Al Jazeera
Will the Super League overcome its own challenges and successfully launch after a court ruling questioning UEFA’s powers?
European football’s governing body UEFA is set to “lose a lot of power” in the wake of a recent court ruling on a breakaway league, experts have said, as the continental body’s long-standing monopoly on the running of the sport faces a new challenge.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and global governing body the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) violated European Union laws by preventing the formation of the Super League in 2021, when 12 of Europe’s premier football clubs including Manchester United and Bayern Munich announced they had signed up for the planned league, sending shock waves through the sport.
UEFA and FIFA were deemed to have abused their dominant position by prohibiting clubs from participating in the “closed” league, as per the initial proposal.
Following protests from fans, widespread condemnation and a stark warning from UEFA that clubs and players who took part in it would be barred from competitions like the World Cup, the project crashed.
Within 48 hours, nine of the 12 rebel clubs – including six from England’s Premier League – backed down and the project collapsed. The league’s promoters, A22 Sports Management, launched a legal challenge through Spanish courts, which referred the question to the Luxembourg-based ECJ.
