Another ruling in favor of the Super League. The Provincial Court of Appeal of Madrid upheld the appeal against the 17th Commercial Court and rejected UEFA’s opposition with a ruling in favor of the Super League. In the ruling, published by the sports newspaper “As”, the magistrates ensure that “the Fifa and UEFA cannot justify their anti-competitive behavior as if they were the sole custodians of certain European valuesi, especially if this is to serve as an excuse to support a monopoly from which to exclude or hinder the initiative of what aspires to be its competitor, the Superlega”.
The judges add that “in the light of the information that has been made available to us, the behavior of the defendants does not seem justifiable to protect the general interests of European football. What we perceive is an action that has all the hallmarks of an unjustifiable abuse by those who hold a position of dominance”.
Useful, there is no public regulator
Furthermore, we cannot assume in this precautionary procedure that the profit distribution mechanism used by FIFA and UEFA, which is not controlled or controlled by an independent public regulator, necessarily constitutes the best possible for the general interests. of sports“. The ruling orders FIFA and UEFA to “abstain from adopting any provision or action and from issuing any statement, during the hearing of the main proceedings, which impedes or hinders, directly or indirectly, the preparation or development of the Super League”. And again, it prohibits Fifa and Uefa, “from announcing or threatening any disciplinary or sanctioning measure against the clubs, managers and people of the clubs and/or players who participate in the preparation of the Superleague”.
Gravina (Figc): sentence that leaves the time it finds
The ruling also orders FIFA and UEFA to refrain from taking any measure or action and to refrain from issuing any statement or communication which, directly or indirectly, impedes or hinders the preparation or development of the Super League.
The ruling by the Provincial Court of Madrid comes three months before the Court of Justice of the European Union rules on the question of whether or not UEFA enjoys a monopoly in the organization of competitions. And it is precisely to this forthcoming ruling that Gabriele Gravina, president of the FIGC, referred, commenting on the conclusions of the Madrid court: “I would wait for March, in a couple of months there will be the decision of the European Union which seems to me quite oriented. The Madrid sentence leaves the time it finds because it concerns Spanish territory. We will see what happens at European level”.