The entire football world order is literally at stake after Thursday’s decision in the European Court of Justice. It was a decision that, in legal terms, is not particularly surprising. The EU is faithful to its competition law principles and to its inherent allergy to obstacles to the exercise of these. This is a judgment on Uefa’s exercise of its position, not an endorsement by the Super League. PRESIDENT: Alexander Ceferin (left) together with Erling Braut Haaland. Photo: Daniel Cole / AP Uefa has threatened bans from leagues for clubs that join leagues and from national teams for the players. While they themselves continue to earn gigantic sums from selling their own Mesterliga. A commercial player who refuses others to come up with competing products provokes allergic reactions from the highest court in the EU system. But for football, the decision still means that you have to prepare for a year-long and uncertain battle to keep your club tournaments as they are today. And not least the income from them. And the European football federation, Uefa, can thus blame itself. They have governed football without sufficient transparency, without sufficient balance and with too much focus on their own earnings. Uefa should in principle be a kind of secretariat for its members and facilitate activity at national team and club level. And only that. They have become something much more and much more powerful. And more associations should listen. Because there is a more general warning in this. The verdict on Norway What can the EEA country Norway learn from this? More than it might seem. Not because we need more reminders of what a marginal football nation we are. Two Danish clubs, FCK and Brøndby, have both been contacted by the Superliga. None in Norway. Because Molde and Bodø/Glimt are not necessarily close to being commercially interesting enough for a new, private super league. But somewhere on the horizon there is actually a possible threat to our entire sports model hidden in Thursday’s verdict. Or judge. Because there were several decisions in the area of sport from the European Court of Justice this Tuesday. The International Skating Union, ISU, was condemned for abusing its position when it threatened two Dutch skaters with a ban if they took part in competitive skating events in South Korea. The lesson is the same as for Uefa: If you do not use an allocated monopoly position with care and cunning, you can be punished for it. One saw the contours of the same in the judgment in the case between the alpinist Henrik Kristoffersen and the Norwegian Ski Association. In the end, the Ski Association was apparently fully successful. But the preceding statement from the EFTA Court, to which Norway belongs, emphasized the importance that the association’s arrangements should not go further than is necessary to serve the purpose. The entire basis of Norwegian sports, the gambling monopoly, is in a way built on the same exception to the rules on free competition, also in the gambling market. The purpose sanctifies the means the EU deeply detests. But as long as the purposes for which the surplus goes, whether it is research, culture or sport in particular, are of general benefit and importance, then that justifies the exception. Uefa cannot demonstrate such objectives, no matter how much they try to present themselves as a Robin Hood in a world of football full of sheriffs from both Nottingham and warmer places. Same shit, new wrapping The new Superligaen sounds exactly like what it is: A new version of exactly the same European Superliga, which was launched as a never-small shock on a Sunday in April 2021. By the time it was Wednesday, it had been cancelled. But it was never shut down. The forces behind it are too strong for that. Externally, it was the two Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona who refused to give up. But there were actually more of them. Now they have learned. When the verdict on Uefa’s appearance came on Thursday, the company behind the new Superliga, which has interestingly dropped “European” in its name, was more than ready. Ready to proclaim this as a victory for the Super League and little else. “Football is free”, was the message from the company A22, which happened to be ready in a studio with the presentation of a brand new concept, only a few minutes after the verdict had been handed down. Even if they haven’t actually won anything, it’s important to create an impression of a victory march – one that you have to hang on to. NOT SATISFIED: The Super League faced massive protests around Europe in 2021. Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP Free is good The Super League has used its time well. And has changed its charm strategy. In 2021, it was the clubs who were guaranteed astronomical sums, while the fans, at least the European ones, were forgotten. Now everyone will get their share. Also the fans. Nothing is more gratifying than free products. Superligaen 2.0 will be streamed for free to anyone who wants it all over the world through a new platform with the more than slightly pathetic name “Unify”. There, anyone who wants to can see the 64 best men’s clubs and not least the innovation with also the 32 best women’s teams in Europe unfold like this approximately every Wednesday. The others who do not get a place must dream of getting it. For this is a “democratization of football”, as the eloquent director of A22, the German businessman Bernd Reichart, put it in the company’s presentation. HAPPY: A22 CEO Bernd Reichart. Photo: SUSANA VERA / Reuters The fight for the clubs Now there are no clubs with fixed places, regardless of results, as was the case last time. There are promotions and relegations, albeit to a very limited extent. And all clubs in theory have the opportunity to qualify. In theory. They have also introduced their own hashtag, #righttocompete. This is how you emphasize that you have created a movement. The power is in the clubs. And the money will go back there. When football is now finally free. Again, there is only the tiny question of which clubs are actually in question. Said Reichart in A22 supposedly speaks fluent Spanish. He needs that too. The only two clubs that have so far supported the new project are precisely Barcelona and Real Madrid. After the original Superliga’s collapse, they have a job to do in convincing more people. PROTEST: Football fans around Europe were at least not convinced when the Super League was launched in 2021. Photo: Clive Rose / AP Rule Britannia They will also fight against the British government. New rules have already been adopted to prevent Premier League clubs from joining projects like this. And more may come. Without the top clubs from the world’s richest league, a new league is not very “super”. And everyone knows that. Although the Premier League’s ever-increasing dominance is one of the reasons for the rebellion in some of the other leagues in Europe. But one should not underestimate the forces that want a larger share of the income for the big clubs and not via Uefa’s greedy filters. The will to become part of a new and lucrative force in football is to some extent latent among club owners who do not associate the term “local belonging” with anything other than their own wallets. Then comes the real potential of the EU Court’s decision. They may have created football’s own supermarket. Where the most attractive clubs can pounce on the most tempting offer at any given time. In theory. In the first instance, this will go back to a court in Madrid, where it all really started. The person who asked for advice from the EU’s highest judicial body. AFTER THE VERDICT: Uefa President Ceferin appeared at a press conference on Zoom after the verdict. Photo: HANDOUT / Reuters While Reichart in A 22 makes new, glossy videos – and Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin sits in the headquarters in Nyon and ridicules the new two-club league. But Uefa got too complacent and took it too far. In any case, it makes for a Christmas full of worries. When they have suddenly realized that the competitor has actually started offering relegation.
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