{"id":97654,"date":"2023-12-21T08:25:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T08:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/?p=97654"},"modified":"2023-12-21T08:25:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T08:25:02","slug":"european-court-of-justice-decision-bigger-than-bosman-and-could-change-the-face-of-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/soccer\/european-court-of-justice-decision-bigger-than-bosman-and-could-change-the-face-of-football\/","title":{"rendered":"European Court of Justice decision \u2018bigger than Bosman\u2019 and could change the face of football"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If it seems strange that there is still so much talk of the European Super League given what happened in April 2021, there are many involved in the case now that are making even grander statements about it all.<\/p>\n

They believe that today is \u201cbigger than Bosman\u201d. It is the day the entire episode either comes to a conclusion or a new start. The European Court of Justice [ECJ] will rule on whether bodies like Uefa and Fifa represent monopolies that must be broken up, or if that structure is necessary for the running of football. It all stems from the case the Super League planners took around the time of its launch.<\/p>\n

Put in simple terms, this will decide whether they can get the project properly going again, and change the face of European football.<\/p>\n

Today will also see two connected cases decided, making it a potentially landmark day in sport legislation. Those very words might sound dismally dry but the outcome will determine what the football we watch will actually look like. We will know whether the Champions League can be the same; whether the sport as a whole will stay a unified pyramid or potentially disperse into the same sort of chaos as boxing.<\/p>\n

As regards the actual teams that clubs can put out, one of the decisions will rule on whether Uefa\u2019s regulations on homegrown players contradict EU law, from a case brought by Royal Antwerp. Another will involve the International Skating Union and all of the same themes as in football. This is whether a restriction on events organised by other parties also represents a restriction of competition.<\/p>\n

The core of all this is something universal, that has warranted resolution since the very foundation of organised sport, and particularly since the involvement of the European Union. It is about the tension between football as a business and football as a sport.<\/p>\n

The Super League clubs are fundamentally trying to argue that it is just an \u201centertainment industry\u201d that should be subject to the same rules as any such company. Uefa are trying to argue it is a cultural pursuit that warrants special protections.<\/p>\n

A problem has long been that the latter was never stated in law, which led to the monumental Bosman ruling wreaking such havoc on the economy of football. It created an almost completely open market and scores of unintended consequences. A recognition of this in the last few years has led to something closer to a legal articulation, as well as Advocate General Athanasios Rantos\u2019 recommendation to the ECJ last December that the status quo should actually be strengthened.<\/p>\n