All the countries of the European Union, with the exception of Spain, have called for the “European sport model” to be strengthened in order to better respect “the balance between the economic dimension of sport and its educational and social functions”, in a declaration published on Thursday 8 February.
According to the twenty-six countries, respecting this balance requires: - a “pyramid” organisation with professional sport at the top and amateur sport at the bottom; - a sports promotion and relegation system; - a “financial solidarity” mechanism whereby the professional level contributes to funding the amateurs.
In particular, the twenty-six countries are inviting sports governing bodies to organise sporting competitions based on “sporting merit” and establishing a “link between annual performance in domestic competitions and all European competitions”.
This provision is a thinly veiled reference to the initiative of a dozen European football clubs, led by FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, to set up the Superleague, a new private European competition to rival the current Champions League organised by UEFA. Unlike the Champions League, the Superleague would guarantee a more permanent place for the most prestigious clubs at its launch, although it would not be totally disconnected from the results of national championships.
Without taking a position on the advisability of creating the Superleague, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled at the end of 2023 that, by failing to include objective and proportionate criteria, the FIFA and UEFA rules on the prior authorisation of interclub football competitions infringe EU competition law and the freedom to provide services within the single market (case C-333/21 - see EUROPE 13319/4).
On Thursday, the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, said that the Court’s ruling sent “a good message” to European sports organisations, who must check that they have “objective criteria” for deciding whether or not to authorise a sporting competition, because “it cannot be completely discretionary”.
On the same day, in Paris, UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin of Slovenia mocked this “Zombie League”, which he described as opposed to the model based on “solidarity, investment, unity, sporting merit, promotion and relegation”, reported AFP. “Some people are trying to trample 70 years of history and change the history of football. They try to pass themselves off as the saviours of football when in fact they are the gravediggers”, he added.
To see the declaration by the twenty-six EU countries, go to https://aeur.eu/f/ars (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)