Real Madrid and A22 could claim up to €4.5 billion in their complaint against UEFA following the CJEU ruling condemning the organisation’s censorship of the European Super League.
On Wednesday, Real Madrid issued a strong statement warning UEFA that they would claim “substantial damages” based on the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, ratified by the Provincial Court of Madrid, which determined that the sport’s governing body on the continent had infringed free competition rules with its threats to members of the European Super League.
According to ‘AS’, both the ‘Merengues’, the main driving force behind the tournament, and the promoter A22 Sports Management, have put their legal teams to work to prepare a claim that could reach 4.5 billion euros. A colossal amount, which is what the promoters estimate they have lost due to UEFA’s veto.
LaLiga, the RFEF and UEFA had joined forces to lodge several appeals against the CJEU ruling, issued in December 2023. According to the text, “the FIFA and UEFA rules on the prior authorisation of club football competitions, such as the European Super League, violate Union law by abusing a dominant position and preventing free competition in the market”. “Likewise, their authorisation, control and sanctioning rules, given their arbitrary nature, must be classified as an unjustified restriction on the free provision of services”, it adds.
Although the judgment does not expressly mention the ESL, it does refer to the fact that the organisations cannot limit the emergence of new competitions and that they must consider projects that could benefit the participating clubs. It is on this basis that the promoters of the ‘other Champions League’ believe that UEFA’s position has seriously harmed them.
Despite the fact that in recent months there has been a rapprochement between A22 and UEFA, with meetings between their representatives – as well as those of Real Madrid and Barcelona – the feeling left with the clubs and the ESL organisation is that there was never any intention of reaching an agreement, only to buy time on the part of Aleksander Ceferin. The only progress was in reference to the television model and the management of the competition, but the conversations stalled when talking about the format.
According to the aforementioned media outlet, Real Madrid and A22 Sports Management are clinging to the precedent created by other monopoly cases. Among them, the fine of 2.424 billion euros that the CJEU imposed on Google for favouring Google Shopping over other price comparison sites within its search engine. At the moment, the claim for damages is still in the process of being drafted.
