A preliminary ruling has been issued against Europe’s footballing body UEFA which annuls the clubs involved in the European Super League catastrophe.
The three founding clubs- Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus FC were threatened by UEFA over a possible ban from the Champions League and also for breaking the laws of UEFA but the court has ordered the football governing body to scrap all the legal sanctions taken against these clubs.
In April, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Atlético Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan tried to form a breakaway league called the ‘European Super League’ and Real Madrid’s current president Florentino Perez was announced as the first-ever chairman of this league.
When the news first broke out, it created havoc and received a major backlash from fans around the world and many clubs like all the English clubs, the two Milan based clubs and Atletico Madrid decided to turn their back on this new project but Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juventus are the rebels who have still not backed down and UEFA has opened up disciplinary proceedings against the three clubs.
Last month, the European Court of Justice confirmed that they received a referral from the Madrid court which stated that UEFA and world football governing body FIFA have acted in an illegitimate way against this project and UEFA has decided to defend its position.
While the nine clubs that decided to pull out have reached an agreement with UEFA which includes a €15m ($17.7m) donation to be used for the benefit of children, youth and grassroots football in local communities across Europe. This will be counted as a “gesture of goodwill”. If in future these clubs decide to perform a similar stunt then €100 million will be imposed. There will also be a €50 million fine on these clubs if they breach any other club commitment declaration.
But the latest hearing in the Madrid court has cancelled these sanctions imposed on the club. Judge Manuel Ruiz de Lara has also ordered that €15m goodwill payment and the €100m fines have also been ordered to be nullified.
English Premier League clubs were slapped with a £22 million fine for their involvement in the project. Meanwhile, Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina also said Juventus would be demoted from Serie A as the club is still a part of the project.
In his ruling yesterday (Thursday), the judge said that, “the hidden sanctions imposed on certain founding members of the Super League, under the euphemism of the ‘agreement’ by the clubs … represents a clear failure to comply.”
But the Madrid Court has announced that no actions can be placed against these clubs and therefore, it puts an end to the rumours of the Super League rebels getting banned from further European competitions.