The European Super League's "hasty and biased" reading of Thursday’s landmark ruling by the Court of Justice has emboldened EU sports ministers to meet in the new year and begin steps to articulate and protect a European model of sport, where pursuits like football would be viewed as having distinctive cultural values.
A fresh attempt to create a European Super League has come amid long-term gaps between EU law and the actual working of sport. The number of cases ruled upon by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Thursday was actually in part an attempt to unify evolving theories over how sport can fit into competition law and freedom of movement.
The French Minister of Sports, Amelie Oudea-Castera, said politicians will now come together on 10 January with renewed impetus to harden those discussions. In a post on Twitter/X on Friday, Oudea-Castera railed against the “attempt to reactivate” the Super League based “on a hasty and biased reading of the ECJ’s ruling, reflecting a wider sentiment within the EU.
There has been a growing recognition within legal circles covering sport that the effects of the 1995 Bosman ruling had huge unintended consequences for how football works, and many cases since have taken this into consideration. On the other side, sporting executives have often been frustrated with how the letter of competition law can actually work against sport, where more open markets actually ensure that sport becomes less competitive.
Bosman is an example of this, having created an almost completely open transfer market that only serves to concentrate talent and resources with fewer and fewer clubs.
While the European Super League celebrated Thursday’s ruling, declaring “football is free”, it is understood this has had the adverse effect of emboldening long-term discussions between sports ministers to articulate a proper space for sporting values within EU law.
Oudea-Castera had initially been speaking in response to a comment by European Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas, who posted on social media: "Europe’s core principle is solidarity. Our consistent support of a values-driven European sports model is non-negotiable. European football will always remain a vector of inclusion and cohesion. For the many. Not only the elites."
“The Super League project goes against the values that France holds for professional sport on a national and European scale," Oudea-Castera went on to say.
“Faced with the threats that this project poses for our leagues, our amateur and professional clubs, our athletes and our sports movement as a whole, France will continue to defend a European model based on the fairness of competitions, sporting merit and solidarity, financial support for the societal impact of sport and its access for all."
She also outlined that ministers would be meeting to firm-up talks that have been going on for some time now.
“The discussions that have been going on for several months with my European counterparts will continue in the coming weeks on these issues, from January 10 at the technical level, to jointly build avenues for improving the current model and strengthening its founding principles."
