EU Competition Law, Football and National Markets

The number of top football suppliers (i.e., clubs with a realistic chance of winning important prizes) has declined in many national markets over the last sixty years. As a result, economic competition has diminished and prices have increased to the detriment of welfare. This development has been reinforced by the more recent policies of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which have particularly helped the top European clubs. These clubs have put pressure on UEFA to implement these policies by threatening to leave the UEFA competitions and starting an alternative competition (the European Super League), and other joint actions. But, these actions are incompatible with EU competition law. The actual creation of a European Super League would also be incompatible with the competition law. If the EU were to apply the law, the power of the big clubs within UEFA would be reduced and the Super League would not emerge. The reduced power of the big clubs would imply that UEFA’s policies could be based more on the old democratic principle of ‘one member, one vote’, again. This would lead to more victories for small clubs on the playing fields, and to more competition within the markets.