Snak

Her er de - i mine øjne - mest væsentlige betragtninger fra General advokaten.

101. It is not in dispute in the present case that the majority of the clubs participating in the ESL (that is to say, 15 of the 20 participants) would see their participation guaranteed. Furthermore, the ESL’s founding clubs intended to continue to take part in the open national competitions organised by the national federations and leagues under the aegis of FIFA and UEFA.

102. However, such a competition would inevitably have a negative impact on the national championships by reducing the appeal of those competitions (and in particular those of the Member States whose clubs are part of the ESL). As things currently stand, the final standing obtained at the end of each season in the national championships plays a decisive role in determining the participants in the top European competition, which (depending on the level of the national league) makes reaching the top spots in those championships particularly attractive. That element could vanish, or at least be significantly weakened, if the results of the national leagues were largely irrelevant to participation at the top level of the pyramid, as appears to be indicated by ESLC’s ambitions. The founding clubs would thus be protected, in their national championships, from competition from rival clubs for a place in a high-level European competition. However, such a competition does not appear consistent with the principle governing European football, under which participation in competitions is based on ‘sporting merit’ and the results achieved on the pitch.

103. Furthermore, a competition with the characteristics of the ESL could have a negative impact on the principle of equal opportunities, which is one component of the fairness of competitions. Thanks to their guaranteed participation in the ESL, certain clubs could book significant additional revenue, whilst continuing at the same time to participate in national competitions in which they would face other clubs which would be unable to generate revenue on a comparable scale, let alone on a permanent and constant basis. The guaranteed revenue from permanent participation at the highest level may be regarded as a significant competitive advantage in financing the acquisition and the remuneration of new players, which is a decisive parameter of competition. The fact that there are currently significant disparities between the clubs taking part in UEFA’s competitions would not be capable of justifying an increase in those disparities.

104. In addition, in line with the almost unanimous view of the governments which participated in the procedure in the present case, such a competition would essentially prevent the participation of teams from most European countries, since it would be limited to participants from a restricted number of countries, and this also might well run counter to the ‘European’ dimension of the sports model enshrined in Article 165 TFEU.

105. Subject to the checks that are for the referring court to carry out in this regard, the ESL model would also risk calling into question the principle of solidarity, since the creation of that competition format could have the effect of undermining the appeal and the profitability of UEFA’s competitions (in particular the Champions League) and of thus reducing the revenue from them, a percentage of which is earmarked for grassroots football

Det er drivværket i hele hans udtalelse. Og alt ovenstående kan ESL sagtens håndtere.