UEFA plea falls on deaf Commission ears

The European Commission is refusing to bow to pressure to grant sport a special exemption from EU competition law and free movement rules.

A white paper on sport is due out from the Commission next month. Groups such as UEFA, European football’s governing body, have been calling on the Commission to reflect sport’s special status in line with a pledge made by EU leaders at the Nice summit in 2000. A declaration agreed at the summit says that sport should not be treated just as any other economic activity.

But the paper currently being drafted rules out giving sport a general exemption from EU competition law.

The paper says that "the assessment whether a certain sporting rule is compatible with EU competition law can only be made on a case-by-case basis". It refers to a European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision of July 2006 in an appeal by two swimmers against being banned from professional competitions for two years for taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs, known as the Meca-Medina case after the name of the Spanish complainant. The Commission paper says that the court provided a "helpful clarification" regarding the impact of EU law on sporting rules by dismissing the notion of "purely sporting rules" as irrelevant on whether EU competition rules apply to the sport sector.

Jonathan Hill, head of UEFA’s Brussels office, said his organisation was "very worried" by the direction that the Commission was taking in current drafts of the paper. He said that merely restating what the courts had been saying on the application of EU competition law to sport could lead to a situation where players could challenge being given red cards or teams appealed against being relegated because of the restrictions of competition. "Almost any sporting decision would be challenged," he said.

Hill said that sports bodies such as UEFA were not looking for a general exemption from EU law. "We are asking the Commission to produce guidelines for competition law and free movement rules but the Commission just says ‘no’," he said.

"If we, sports governing bodies, can no longer produce basic sporting rules without being challenged, it’s very worrying," Hill added.

UEFA is also unhappy that the Commission seems to be supporting the principle of individual sale of television broadcast rights rather than collective sales, which redirect proceeds back to smaller clubs and the amateur game. The draft paper says that individual selling rights are acceptable, provided they are linked to "robust solidarity mechanisms". Hill pointed out that top-flight Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona had sold their rights for €1 billion each. "How do you equate this with solidarity?" he said.

The paper also says that the Commission will look very hard at rules requiring teams to field a number of home-grown players to see if this discriminates on grounds of nationality.

UEFA argues that its system, based on teams fielding players it has trained itself, is almost universally regarded as a good approach.

The white paper will attempt to address increasing criticism from some sections of football that a series of challenges at the ECJ and EU competition decisions have been benefiting the top-flight clubs and diverting money away from smaller teams and sport at amateur level. They include the Bosman ruling in 1995 which gave players a free transfer from clubs at the end of their contracts but which, critics argue, has harmed smaller clubs. There is also a major case before the court in which major clubs are asking for compensation when their players are injured in international matches.

The deadline for publication of the white paper has already been delayed a week to 10 July and it may be put off until after August if the draft is substantially rewritten. Once adopted it will be presented to EU sports ministers in the autumn and followed by an action plan.

To illustrate how sports-related decisions could increasingly be referred to EU authorities, this Friday (15 June) a delegation from English second division club Sheffield United will visit Culture Commissioner Jan Figel’. United is challenging a decision by the English Premier League not to deduct points from West Ham United for fielding two players whose registration was disputed last season. The Premier League only fined West Ham but the two players helped the club stay in the Premiership while Sheffield United was relegated. United chairman Kevin McCabe told the BBC: "We’ll go to the European Commission for them to opine. We believe we have maybe got a human rights issue because of the loss of jobs that has been established if we are relegated, the salaries that are reduced because of going from the Premiership to the Championship and those sort of issues."

The European Commission is refusing to bow to pressure to grant sport a special exemption from EU competition law and free movement rules.