Luxembourg club Swift Hesperingen filed a lawsuit against the Luxembourg federation FLF and UEFA in a national court on Thursday, asking the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling. This would be a minor matter were it not for an explosive overlap with a far more popular case.
Because Hesperingen’s legal representatives, lawyers Jean-Louis Dupont and Martin Hissel, are also representing the Super League company in its dispute with UEFA. Just last week, a two-day hearing took place before the ECJ in the Super League case that kept the football world on tenterhooks for a few days 15 months ago. A dozen major European clubs wanted to create their own elite league under the leadership of Andrea Agnelli and Florentino Perez, the presidents of Juventus Turin and Real Madrid.
But the idea collapsed like a house of cards under pressure from many fans and threats from UEFA and FIFA. Only Real, Juve and FC Barcelona, which treats itself to one star after another despite a gigantic mountain of debt, are holding on to the idea. The ECJ will not rule on the matter before 2023.
The lawyers once already got involved in the Bosman ruling
It is hardly surprising that the Super League lawyers Dupont, Hissel and two other lawyers are now attacking the national association and UEFA via Hesperingen. Dupont, for example, once also represented ex-professional Marc Bosman, whose case shook football to its foundations.
In terms of content, there is at least an overlap with the Super League case. According to the notice of claim, Hesperingen is challenging “the illegality of various UEFA and FLF rules: UEFA and FLF rules that prohibit clubs from establishing and running transnational competitions, for example a Benelux league or even a pan-European competition.” In addition, the plaintiffs are thorn in the side of the quotas for locally trained players and the transfer rules of the Luxembourg federation, which according to Dupont & Co. “violate the Bosman ruling”.
An attack on Luxembourg’s 50+1 rule
Interesting from a German perspective: Hesperingen also attacks a very specific statute in Luxembourg, according to which clubs there must organise themselves as registered associations, i.e. they cannot operate as commercial companies. The bottom line is that this is a statute similar to the German 50+1 rule.
