Madrid Commercial Court ruling does not endorse the abandoned European Super League

• The judge reiterated that "it has been stated countless times that authorization for the Super League project has not been requested and will not be resolved."

• The ruling also acknowledges that UEFA has already modified its authorization regulations and that "variation of the Super League project does not affect the present proceeding."

LALIGA has today received the ruling from the Commercial Court No. 17 of Madrid, which, in line with the ECJ (European Court of Justice) ruling in December, does not endorse the European Super League. The Madrid ruling insists that this procedure does not pass judgement on the abandoned Super League project and, furthermore, acknowledges UEFA's modifications to its competition authorization regulations in 2022.

The Commercial Court No. 17 of Madrid made it clear in its ruling: "Given that the Super League initially proposed in the claim, i.e. according to the initial project stated in the claim, has been abandoned and discarded by its proponents, the requests related to it must also be dismissed."

The ruling further adds that future impositions cannot be made because: "To admit otherwise would be to accept a sort of protection or preapproval of any football competition that might be presented by the complainants, which is unacceptable."

As LALIGA has always maintained, debates regarding the European Super League project must take place within the context of the European football ecosystem, which has repeatedly and collectively spoken against the Super League, through domestic leagues, clubs, players, fans, public institutions, etc.

The Commercial Court No. 17 of Madrid explicitly states: "We are facing a regulatory conflict that affects the organizational model of football; it will be up to the participants to modify and adapt it subsequently. This does not mean that the authorization of any competition is the subject of this procedure; but rather the foundations for channelling a system of free competition in the organization of football competitions.” 

The Super League debate is not new, nor does current ruling represent a significant challenge to the project’s illegitimacy. As the judge herself adds in the ruling: "This court has already stated countless times that authorization for the Super League project has not been requested nor will be resolved," contrary to what the Super League promoters and related media outlets have been declaring for some time.

It is also worth noting that the same Commercial Court of Madrid has already highlighted in its ruling that: "UEFA, in 2022, modified the regulations for the prior-authorization system in such a way that it has been 'codified' and completed’," which also aligns with the ECJ’s ruling in December.

Beyond this ruling, the entire football ecosystem, including fans, players, coaches, leagues, federations, and clubs, has spoken loudly and clearly to say that it does not want a model that perpetuates the participation of a few privileged clubs, restricting the pinnacle of European football to a closed elite, and distancing it from a sport which should be open to everyone.

In fact, 26 out of the 27 member states of the European Union (all except Spain, whose Government should now make its position clear following the Madrid court’s resolution) recently signed a document defending the European Sports Model based on the principles of "Solidarity, sporting merit, and the social impact of sport," explicitly emphasizing the fundamental importance of "the relationship between annual performance in domestic leagues and all European competitions." This is something that A22's Super League project clearly does not fulfil.

Additionally, the European Parliament has approved a report advocating "For a European sports model that recognizes the need for a strong commitment to integrating the principles of solidarity, sustainability, inclusion, open competition, sporting merit, and fairness, and consequently firmly opposes breakaway competitions that undermine these principles and endanger the stability of the sports ecosystem as a whole."

The creation of a league designed to benefit the richest clubs and concentrate power among a small number of privileged teams would also result in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and drastically reduce tax revenues for public coffers across the continent.

According to an expert report prepared by KPMG, a project such as the European Super League would lead, from a Spanish perspective alone, to a 55% loss in global revenue for LALIGA and its clubs and would jeopardize an industry that generates over 194,000 jobs and €8.39 billion in taxes per year, accounting for 1.44% of Spanish GDP.