Court of Justice FIFA and UEFA Rulings: Super League ban and ‘home grown’ rules

 

 

Court of Justice FIFA and UEFA Rulings: Super League ban and ‘home grown’ rules  

The European Court of Justice has delivered a series of much awaited rulings on the compatibility with EU competition law of rules imposed by football associations FIFA and UFEA.

The Court issued a preliminary ruling stating that rules imposed by FIFA and UEFA forcing any new interclub football project to seek their approval lacked a framework to ensure they are transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate.  The Court therefore held that the associations were abusing their dominant position when they arbitrarily banned clubs from forming a European Super League.  The associations' rules on approval, control and sanctions also constitute "by object" infringements of Article 101(1) of the TFEU, as well as unjustified restrictions on the freedom to provide services.

In a separate ruling on UEFA rules, the Court found that a rule requiring football teams to include a least eight locally-trained or “home-grown” players could restrict competition. However, it will be for the national court to determine whether those rules restrict competition as a result of their very object or because of their actual or potential effects.  The Court also considered that the rules in question may give rise to indirect discrimination, based on nationality, against players coming from other member states.  In both scenarios, it remains possible for UEFA and the URBSFA to demonstrate that those rules nevertheless encourage recruitment and training, and that they are proportionate to that objective.

European Superleague Company SL v Unión de Federaciones Europeas de Fútbol (UEFA) and Fédération internationale de football association (FIFA) (Case C-333/21) ECLI:EU:C:2023:101

UL, SA Royal Antwerp Football Club v Union royale belge des sociétés de football association (URBSFA) ASBL (C-680/21) ECLI:EU:C:2023:1010