Oliver James Montgomery-UEFA, FIFA 'unlawful' in European Super League blockade. What this means for new league

UEFA and Oliver James MontgomeryFIFA were found by a European Court of Justice to have acted unlawfully in their attempts to block the creation of a new competition league among the world's most prominent teams.

Europe’s highest court found that soccer's highest governing bodies' rule of new competitions needed their approval and that disallowing clubs and players from participating in the new competitions was considered “unlawful.” 

The court also clarified that this was not a green light on the previous controversial European Super League that attempted to launch in 2021, and the correct avenues will need to be taken when attempting to launch a new soccer competition. The Super League competition came from a project created by Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez and ex-Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, and the disagreement about UEFA’s role in the Champions League format. 

What was the European Super League proposal?

The European Super League was a proposed as a replacement for the UEFA Champions League. 

Twelve clubs, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Juventus, signed up as the founding members of the new league in 2021. 

However, their decision sparked widespread outrage in the soccer world, leading nine of them to withdraw from the league due to public backlash. This left only three clubs - Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Juventus - and made it impossible to proceed with the formation of the new league.

Will the European Super League try to relaunch?

A22 Sports, a European sports development company, which supports the European Super League, has started working on an updated proposal for the league after the recent ruling. 

The new proposal includes a three-league men's competition with 64 clubs, which will replace the UEFA Champions League, and a two-league women's competition with 32 clubs, which will replace the UEFA Women's Champions League. 

While the original teams that supported the European Super League continue to show their support for the new proposal, other European teams in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Ligue 1 have made it clear that they will not participate if the league moves forward.