La Liga giants FC Barcelona on Thursday welcomed the European Court of Justice ruling deeming the move by UEFA and FIFA to prevent the European Super League and sanction clubs participating in the process as ‘illegal’. In a landmark judgement, the ECJ ruled that the rules at the time were not sufficient and that FIFA and UEFA acted “illegally” in preventing the rebel tournament from taking place.
Barcelona were one of the teams at the forefront of the European Super League project along with fellow La Liga club Real Madrid in 2021. However, the UEFA and FIFA moved quickly to prevent the tournament from taking place, sanctioning clubs involved in the process.
After the verdict of the European Court of Justice came out, Barcelona in a statement expressed their ‘satisfaction’ on the judgement and invited new discussions about the project.
“FC Barcelona wishes to express its satisfaction with the sentence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) assessing the Super League project as proposed by A22 Sports. As one of the clubs driving the Super League project, FC Barcelona feels that the sentence paves the way for a new elite level football competition in Europe by opposing the monopoly over the football world, and wishes to initiate new discussions as to the path that European competitions should take in the future,” Barca said in a statement.
“In a year when the club is celebrating its 125th anniversary, Barça wishes to continue to offer its experience and knowledge of different sports to propose solutions for current issues in elite sport. That is why it is declaring its support for the Super League promoted by A22 and encourages constructive debate among both domestic and international football bodies, which have now been endorsed by today’s sentence by the Court of Justice of the European Union,” the statement added.