Florentino Pérez has by no means put aside the foundation of a Super League, which failed miserably in the first attempt. The billionaire entrepreneur and president of the Champions League winner Real Madrid is hoping for a legal breakthrough in the coming months for the controversial project, which the European Court of Justice has been dealing with since Monday and which DFB President Bernd Neuendorf has described as a “frontal attack on the European Sport model and the core values of sport”.
With their lawsuit against the European Football Union and the world association Fifa, Pérez and his comrades-in-arms still want to achieve the goal of founding a Super League with top European clubs to compete with the Champions League. “Superliga means freedom,” the Real President repeatedly emphasized.
In the proceedings in Luxembourg (Case C-333/21), the twelve founding clubs of the European Superleague Company around Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin are challenging Uefa’s monopoly position.
It would “abuse its dominant position in the market for the organization of international football club competitions in Europe and in the market for the commercialization of the rights associated with these competitions,” according to the lawsuit. According to Pérez, “Uefa’s monopoly is incompatible with European Union law”.
In addition, the rebellious top clubs have requested security measures “to enable the establishment and organization of the European Super League”. The European Court of Justice should check whether the sanctions threatened by FIFA and Uefa last year against participating clubs and players would have been lawful.
In April 2021, twelve top clubs announced the formation of a super league, but quickly rejected the plan after massive protests from leagues, associations and fans. In addition to Juve, Real and Barça, the two Milan clubs AC and Inter, Atlético Madrid and from England Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Manchester City were among them.
The answers of the ECJ are of great importance. They are binding, even if in the end the Spanish Court of Justice decides on the claim. The verdict, which essentially affects the structure of the sports system, is only expected in a few months.
If the court were to rule against the associations, “this could mean that there are many different new players on the market. Then there might be three European champions like in boxing,” sports lawyer Holger Jacob said on Deutschlandfunk.
No wonder DFB boss Neuendorf is alarmed and looks to Luxembourg with concern. “If they ultimately succeed, it would be a step towards the full commercialization of football. A self-contained system would emerge – a league that would know no promotion and relegation. The mega-clubs kept to themselves, and the money raised would in all probability be shared among themselves,” Neuendorf wrote in a guest article in the “Welt am Sonntag”.
The rebels see it very differently. Like Peréz, Juve boss Andrea Agnelli has not buried the project for a long time. The heavily indebted Italian record champions are sticking to their plans to “pursue the creation of long-term value for the company and the entire football industry”, a club spokesman said on Monday when asked by dpa. And Barça President Joan Laporta recently emphasized again that the Super League is important “for the sustainability of football”.
Incidentally, in Spain the Superliga plans are met with significantly less resistance from the media and fans than in other countries. The government is against it. However, there is hardly any criticism, and fan protests against the project – such as in England – certainly not.
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Real boss Pérez enjoys the support of his club’s members. At the annual meeting of the Spanish record champions in November 2021, he was cheered when he said: “We will not be intimidated by illegal threats.”
Uefa and its President Aleksander Ceferin accused Peréz of “rejecting any dialogue” and pursuing his own interests. Ceferin himself reacted calmly to the Topkubs’ renewed advance. “Whatever the court’s decision, it doesn’t change anything: the project is dead because nobody wants to take part,” said the 54-year-old in a recent interview with the Italian sports newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport”.
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