European Super League-type breakaway competitions opposed by EU lawmakers – Sportsdicted

European lawmakers voted their opposition to breakaway competitions on Tuesday following the aborted Super League project.

Some of Europe’s biggest football clubs wanted to break away from the Champions League and run their own competition called the European Super League, but it quickly collapsed upon launch in April following protests by fans and governments.

With 597 votes to 36 and 55 abstentions, members of the European Parliament said they want European sporting culture “to be aligned with EU values of solidarity, sustainability, inclusiveness for all, open competition, sporting merit and fairness.”

EU lawmakers opposed breakaway competitions “that undermine these principles and endanger the stability of the overall sports ecosystem.”

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UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin welcomed the vote and said the governing body will keep working with the EU “to strengthen and protect the European sports model in European football.”

Lawmakers also called for more money to be redistributed to amateur sports but did not propose any detailed plans for any solidarity mechanisms that sports federations could introduce.

“MEPs want a balance to be struck between professional sport’s commercial interests and its social functions, by strengthening the links between grassroots and elite sport,” they said.

Lawmakers also pledged to tackle gender inequality and harassment in sports, “in particular when it comes to pay and equal representation on the boards of sports organizations.”