In an official announcement shared on social media, Real Madrid declared that it and fellow Super-League holdouts FC Barcelona and Juventus Turin “welcomed” a decision of the Commercial Court of Madrid that ordered UEFA to lift all the sanctions the soccer body had imposed on the clubs for their role in founding and pursuing the breakaway “European Super League.”
In particular, the court ruled that UEFA cannot force the participants to dissolve the Super League and cannot impose a €100 million fine on the clubs that attempted to join it. The English Premier League and Serie A would also have to drop any sanctions against their own respective clubs. (Reuters)
As antitrust commentator Florian Mueller describes it, “The decision is not surprising in the slightest,” because UEFA’s position “is facially at odds with the European Commission and the EU General Court’s holdings in the International Skating Union case.”
Although the ruling is a setback for UEFA, litigation is far from over. Real Madrid’s own statement announces, “The case will be assessed by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which shall review UEFA’s monopolistic position over European football.”
Sources at ESPN, meanwhile, state that UEFA is pursuing “severe disciplinary action against Barca, Madrid and Juve.”
