By Shubham Gandhi, third-year student and Tanish Gupta, second-year student at Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur

Introduction

The furore surrounding the proposed breakaway European Super League (“ESL“) has yet again spurred with the issuing of joint statement canned by the three so-called European giants i.e. Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Juventus bolstered up the ESL keeping the faith of the league alive. This came in the aftermath of a preliminary ruling dictated by the Madrid Commercial Court on 20 April 2021 holding the league to be in violation of EU competition law.

The idea of Super league, much of its disgrace, has posed a serious question to the world of sport. The author(s) in this manuscript will give readers the premise of the formulation of ESL, how the league is in contempt of the EU Competition law, and also distil the legality of the statement made by the Union of European Football Association President (premier governing body for football in Europe) barring the players’ from participating in the domestic league and world cup. 

Instaurating European Super League

The European Super League has been in talks for over the years. As early as 1988, a similar move, a two billion deal was signed to establish a new league of elite, surfaced in the world of football, famously known as  Project Gandalf . The ESL President Mr. Florentina Perez who is also chairman of Real Madrid C.F on Sunday, 18 April 2021 trumpeted to the world the newly formed Super league consisting of 20 teams with a total of 15 clubs as founding members and with 5 spots left for other clubs to earn through promotion. For Mr. Perez the league formation was quintessential in order to revivify the TV rights by recuperating the losing interest of fans towards  football and also to provide indispensable financial assistance to the clubs.

The founding members (European giants) approached by the ESL, will bring exuberance of watching big star studded matches on every midweek, resurrecting the interest of football fans, making the league popularized. The ESL will also provide the clubs necessitated financial stability, by sanctioning 200 million euros every year.

UEFA right to forswear

The presence of Article 49 (3) of UEFA statutes grants the federation to intrude in the formation of the ESL. The statues read as: –

“International matches, competitions or tournaments which are not organised by UEFA but are played on UEFA’s territory shall require the prior approval of FIFA and/or UEFA and/or the relevant Member Associations in accordance with the FIFA Regulations Governing International Matches and any additional implementing rules adopted by the UEFA Executive Committee.”

The Article accords UEFA and FIFA as the premier body to grant ratification to any new league, planning to engage in football across Europe. Connoting that the ESL were to take prior permission from UEFA for its formulation, perverse to that, the ESL was devised in silence and publicized, as surprise, not to the world but to the players and manager of the clubs as well.

The riveting point is that many members were part of both the federation this includes Mr. Andrea Agnelli, chairman of Juventus F.C and chairman of European Club Association (“ECA“) who later resigned on the very day when the proposed ESL came into reality. His participation in two opposing federations casted doubt of potential sharing of confidential information for advantage of ESL formation, giving UEFA right of action, based on breach of confidentiality.

Delving into Competition law

The European courts have time and again precedented that sports and activities are dictated by competition law. The ECJ in Klaus Hofner and Fritz Elser v. Macrotron GmbH held that the football clubs are termed as “Undertaking” which are capable of affecting competition within Article 101 (1) of Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”). Also, the ECJ in Meca Medina v. Majcen decreed that competition law does apply to sporting events in relation to economic activities. 

It renders every restrictive (cartel) agreement as a violation of competition law, but subject to exceptions i.e. if the federation pursues a legitimate objective, are inherent to these objectives, necessary and proportionate.

The ESL principally infract the principle of equality between the clubs which was endorsed by the courts around Europe. In the Bosman decision of 1995, the court in para 106, summarised the test as “the aims of maintaining a balance between clubs by preserving a certain degree of equality and uncertainty as to results and of encouraging the recruitment and training of young players must be accepted as legitimate”, similar ruling was dictated in the UEFA Champions League decision of 2003. It is safe to say that the ESL being a close league, with 15 members guaranteed spots regardless of their performance, will fail to stand the test of legitimate objective.

It is to be borne in mind that ESL being a new competition, will gamble upon the existing system and will diminish the financial interest of UEFA, as they are the only federation regulating football in Europe, holding a dominant position.

The UEFA could be prohibited by virtue of Article 102 i.e. Abuse of Dominant position, from exercising its dominant position by prohibiting other leagues and favouring their  league which is Champions and Europa league. The same be held in Motoe case adjudged by ECJ.

UEFA’s incongruous statement banning players

The other wrangle in the brawl between ESL and UEFA is the statement made by UEFA President suspending the players from domestic teams and national teams. The legality of this statement can be posited by Article 102 of TFEU, which declares action taken while holding dominant position as void. The Munich court criticized Fédération Internationale de Basketball (“FIBA“) rule of banning athletes from club and nationals teams, taking part in competition other than the one staged by FIBA. The court while demeaning this rule of FIBA, held them accountable for abusing the dominant position.

In a much recent case, the EU court in International Skating Union Case 2020 held that International Skating Union (national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States)rules regarding blanket ban on players from national teams who are participating in tournaments not accredited by ISU are not proportionate to the legitimate objective as per Article 101(1).

Moreover, a decision rendered by the regional court of Frankfurt held that, if the federation announces the selection of players for the national team not on the basis of sporting merit, then it will be deemed to be a decision based on abuse of dominant market position.

Likewise in the German Wrestling League case, the Nuremberg court of appeal while citing the ISU case held though federation are allowed to take measures in order to protect their own economic interest against the competitive organisation but banning players is against the principle of EU and German competition law.

This in clear terms implies that the announcement threatening to ban all the 12 clubs and players from participating, will not hold a grasp on the courts. The vogue of courts upholding players autonomy is a strong inference that if ESL ever to approach the court, the ruling can be in their favour, same be affirmed by ESL Chairman.

The banning of players will also stand in violation of the principle of ‘restraint of trade’ as players are free to move, as enshrined in the common law system. The creation of ESL has resulted into a much serious breach of duty on part of the club as the planned league carried out without letting the players know, which is in violation of rules of domestic leagues i.e. to abide by the rules of UEFA and FIFA. This in turn will give the right to players to repudiate the contract on grounds of breach of duty and contractual obligation.

In the present case all the disputes arising out of ESL, the ban on teams from domestic leagues and the ban of players from playing in the world cup is likely to have breached any law or regulation for the time being in force, will likely be referred to CAS.

Conclusion

It will be interesting to watch out how this tale of world football develops in the coming months. The EU courts, while deciding the legality of ESL, also have to set out measures hinting whether TFEU licenses a competitive league ever to be formed finer than ESL or UEFA will continue to hold the dominant positions, concerning all small footballing activities played out in Europe.

It is safe to say that the decision banning players from all the competition will not hold strong in court and the actions of UEFA will, in turn, violate Antitrust law as insinuated by the court through various precedents.