EU court advocate general’s opinion on the ESL may affect the FIBA – EuroLeague conflict

By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net

The opinion of EU court advocate general Athanasios Rantos on the FIFA – ESLC issue was published today and to some extent may affect the long conflict between FIBA and EuroLeague.

What’s interesting is that for the first time it’s clearly stated that FIFA has the right to ban clubs from FIFA-related competitions, if they decide to participate without prior authorization to a private league like the European Super League.

To be exact, “Whilst ESLC is free to set up its own independent football competition outside the UEFA and FIFA ecosystem, it cannot, however, in parallel with the creation of such a competition, continue to participate in the football competitions organized by FIFA and UEFA without the prior authorization of those federations”.

This opinion, which was asked by the Madrid commercial court, in which ESLC took the case stating that the conduct of FIFA and UEFA had to be regarded as anti-competitive and incompatible with EU competition law and the provisions of the FEU Treaty relating to the fundamental freedoms, is not binding.

It’s based on the idea of the protection of the “European Sports model” which according to the text “is based, firstly, on a pyramid structure with, at its base, amateur sport and, at its summit, professional sport. Secondly, its primary objectives include the promotion of open competitions, which are accessible to all by virtue of a transparent system in which promotion and relegation maintain a competitive balance and give priority to sporting merit, which is also a key feature of the model. That model is, lastly, based on a financial solidarity regime, which allows the revenue generated through events and activities at the elite level to be redistributed and reinvested at the lower levels of the sport”. 

This is not the final ruling, but it’s an opinion that pretty much dictates the outcome of the Madrid commercial court case and the bottom line is simple. While back in 2017, the European Commission decided that International Skating Union (ISU) rules imposing severe penalties on athletes participating in speed skating competitions that are not authorized by the ISU are in breach of EU antitrust law, in the case of the creation of private league like the ESLC, the EU court advocate general is saying the opposite since this kind of league is now considered a threat to the European sports model.

Having said that, there’s no restriction for the creation of a private league, however, the members of those leagues can be banned from other competitions which are held under the international governing bodies of each sport.

This kind of sanction creates a lot of issues in the case of football, but the dynamics are very different in basketball. Banning the EuroLeague clubs from domestic competitions or EuroLeague players from the national teams will create even more problems than those which in theory would be solved, with the current main debate between the two sides being a unified schedule that will permit the EuroLeague players without any conflict to compete with their national teams in all FIBA qualifying windows.

 

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