ADVOCATE GENERAL (AG) OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE GIVES HIS OPINION ON THE PROPOSED EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE

ADVOCATE GENERAL (AG) OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE GIVES HIS OPINION ON THE PROPOSED EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE~ UYI OLUBOR ESQ.
Aspirations by the remaining teams (i.e. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus) still championing the advocacy for the formation of a European Super League suffered a significant blow today as the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave an opinion favouring FIFA and UEFA against the establishment of a European Super League Company.
Note: that the ECJ is not bound by the Opinion of the AG. However, his opinions can be very persuasive as they aid as a stepping stone in their deliberation in reaching a final decision.
If you can remember, this case was instituted by the ESLC against FIFA and UEFA before the Juzgado de lo mercantil de Madrid (Commercial Court of Madrid) after the former accused the latter of anticompetitive behaviour which it claimed they committed by threatening clubs who wished to join the competition. The court in Madrid, having being seized with this dispute, transferred it to ECJ to determine whether the rules of FIFA and UEFA are in breach of EU (trade) Competition laws.
Going through the Advocate General's opinion, I must confess they are almost very similar with the legal opinion I published last year on my blog when this dispute first propped up. In his opinion, the Advocate General stated that even if UEFA's rules restrict the access of UEFA's competitors to the Market for the organization of football competitions in Europe, such a fact does not necessarily mean that those rules are anticompetitive.  The restrictions arising from those rules are in pursuit of a legitimate objective, which must be proportionate to those objectives. And that the non-recognition of a closed competition as the Super League can be deemed as inherent of a legitimate objective, geared towards maintaining the principles of participation based on sporting results, equal opportunities and solidarity upon which the pyramid structure of European structure is founded which trickles down to amateur sides. He also stated that it is the duty of UEFA, when examining a request for a new competition, to ensure that third parties are not denied access to the market. This last point I must state is on all fours with my article I published last year. As I did state, the party who is being anticompetitive are the 12 European Soccer teams.
Finally, I wish to state that I am very impressed with the erudite opinion by Advocate General Rantos. Even though the court of justice is not bound by his opinion. However, I don't see them departing significantly from his position by the time they give their final decision. And my counsel to the remainder of the three Clubs still fighting for the actualization of a Super league, is that they should close ranks with the respective football governing bodies as well as other European teams and forget about this fairy tale of a Super League

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analysing CAS decision on the prortionality of the FIFA Football Agents Regulation

Analysing CAS decision on the prortionality of the FIFA Football Agents Regulation~E.U Olubor Esq. The subject of this dispute bother on the fundamental question, whether FIFA can extend its regulatory powers beyond the task of governing the sport of football itself and cover peripheral economic activities, particularly the market of football agent service which it did with the establishment of the FFAR The Panel in reviewing Article 15(2) of the FFAR which imposes a service fee cap on service charges to be paid to football agents. The panel in assessing its compatibility with article 101TFEU. The panel concurs with the position of PROFAA that FIFA is an association of undertakings which holds a dominant market position within the definition of article 101& 102 of the TFEU respectively and also relying on the decision in Piau where the EU General Court specifically confirmed that FIFA holds a “collective dominant” position under Article 102 TFEU in the relevant market of football a
Read more

UNDERSTANDING THE DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE (ECJ) ON THE PROPOSED EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE

UNDERSTANDING THE DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE (ECJ) ON THE PROPOSED EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE~ Emmanuel Uyi Olubor Esq.  The ECJ ruled on the issue of whether UEFA or FIFA rules restricting teams from constituting a separate league are anticompetitive and a breach of a dominant position.  Before I descend into the nitty-gritty of the decision of the ECJ, I would like to commence by establishing certain facts First, the decision is not binding in Britain as a result of BREXIT, thus British teams like Arsenal, Chelsea et al. Can't use this decision reached by the ECJ as a pretext to join the European Super League. Secondly, as against what was reported by most media outlets, the ECJ did not authorize the establishment of a European Soccer league, instead what played out was that the ECJ ruled on points of law on an issue that was sent to it by the commercial court in Spain which was hitherto instituted by the European Super League Company. The ECJ decided on whether UEFA an
Read more

GUNNARSDÓTTIR v OLYMPIC LYONNAIS: An AFFIRMATION BY FIFA ON THE MATERNITY RIGHTS OF FEMALE FOOTBALLERS

GUNNARSDÓTTIR v OLYMPIC LYONNAIS: An AFFIRMATION BY FIFA ON THE MATERNITY RIGHTS OF FEMALE FOOTBALLERS.~Uyi Olubor Esq. The new edition of the FIFA Regulation on Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP)came with numerous innovations. One of those innovations is the enthronement of Maternity rights for Female Footballers. To the extent that, football clubs are forbidden from making the validity of a player's contract subject to a player being or becoming pregnant during its term. These new provisions were recently tested in the dispute between Sarah Bjork Gunnarsdóttir v Olympique Lyonnais at the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chambers (DRC). The dispute arose after a Player who just became pregnant agreed with her club, to leave her base in France and return to her home country in Iceland for the duration of her pregnancy. The club immediately, filed for the social security allowance on behalf of the player amounting to EUR 45.99 per day. The player then inquired as to the reasons why her sa
Read more