A Legal Assessment of the Status of the European Model of Sport Following the Judgments of the Court of Justice on 21 December 2023

Abstract

On 21 December 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union reignited the debate on the merits of the so‐called “European Model of Sport”, despite not even referring to it in the judgements. In ISU, Superleague, and Royal Antwerp, the Court considered the legality of several sporting rules considered fundamental to the structural integrity of the pyramidic sports model.1 This contribution examines four such rules on: prior authorisation, solidarity, nationality, and arbitration. It argues that the Court has not deconstructed the European model by calling into question the ability of sports governing bodies to continue to act as regulators of their respective sports, but that this regulatory autonomy is conditioned on govern‐ ing bodies drafting, implementing, and enforcing sporting rules within a framework of good governance. Scholars of this field will recognise this message and might assume that it is judicial endorsement the EU’s sport policy developed by the Euro‐ pean Commission, the European Parliament, and the Member States. In fact, the Court declined to make reference to the policy messaging, instead side‐lining those contributions through dismissive treatment of Article 165 TFEU and a refusal to even recognise that a sports “policy” exists at all. Does this matter given that there has been a convergence of messaging between the policy and legal streams, or will politics want to reassert itself and wrestle oversight of international sports govern‐ ance away from judicial adjudication