UEFA have nullified legal action against the breakaway Super League clubs Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus after court order.
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UEFA have nullified legal action against breakaway Super League clubs Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus after a Madrid court ruled that European football’s governing body should not sanction the rebel clubs. UEFA had opened a probe against the three clubs but in June it suspended proceedings after being notified by Swiss authorities of a court order from the commercial court in Madrid obtained by the legal entity European Super League Company SL.
UEFA has dropped its case against Super League clubs Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, calling the proceedings “null and void.” pic.twitter.com/oXculdqnkw
— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 27, 2021
“Following the stay of proceedings against FC Barcelona, Juventus FC and Real Madrid CF, in the matter related to a potential violation of UEFA’s legal framework in connection with the so called ‘Super League’, the UEFA Appeals Body has declared today the proceedings null and void, as if the proceedings had never been opened,” UEFA said in a statement.
Juve, Barca and Real are the last of the 12 clubs who signed up to the Super League in April not to have distanced themselves from the breakaway project which unravelled when all six English clubs plus Inter Milan, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid withdrew.
The nine clubs agreed on a settlement deal with UEFA which would reportedly see them forfeit 5 per cent of their prize money from a single season in European competition and pay a combined 15 million euros (US dollars 18.3 million) also as a “gesture of goodwill” to benefit children, youth and grassroots football. However, no cash will now be reportedly handed over.
“UEFA has informed the nine clubs that in view of the pending court proceedings in Madrid, and to avoid any unnecessary complication,” the organisation said, “UEFA will not request payment of any of the amounts offered in the May declarations of the clubs, as long as the court proceedings in Madrid involving, among others, UEFA are pending.”
A Spanish judge last week gave UEFA five days to confirm it will abide by the court’s ruling and not punish the teams for their involvement in the Super League. Their case was also notified by the judge in Madrid to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The deadline for submissions to the court is next month.
UEFA could open a new disciplinary case at a later point against Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus if it wins the European case. UEFA said it “will continue to take all necessary steps, in strict accordance with national and EU law, in order to defend the interests of UEFA and of all football stakeholders.”
The plans, announced in April, for the 12 clubs to create a European Super League collapsed after just two days as eight of the 12 founding members from England, Italy and Spain abandoned the breakaway project under huge pressure from fans, politicians and soccer officials.
The Super League argued it would increase revenue for the top football clubs in Europe and allow them to distribute more money to the rest of the game.
However, the sport’s governing bodies, other teams and fan organisations said the league would only boost the power and wealth of elite clubs, and that the partially closed structure went against European football’s long-standing model.
