MORE than half of the European Union member states have formally opposed soccer’s Super League project at the European Court of Justice, UEFA said Wednesday.

Of the 27 EU members, 16 filed written submissions against the league to the court in Luxembourg by Monday’s deadline. The court has been asked by a judge in Madrid to examine if UEFA and FIFA have a monopoly control of the sport.

UEFA said the 16 nations include Spain and Italy — home countries of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, the teams leading the Super League company’s legal fight. The European court is expected to hold a public hearing in the first half of next year.

EU member states want to protect the “European Sports Model,” which gives soccer its exemptions from competition laws. The model defends the role elite and grassroots sports play in European life when they are part of the same pyramid of competitions and funding open to everyone through promotion and relegation.

The Super League project, which was announced in April but quickly collapsed, was to break away from the Champions League and run its own 20-team competition. Fifteen invited clubs from Europe’s five wealthiest soccer markets would have had protected status while the other five places would have been open to other clubs.

The 12 original Super League members filed legal suits in a Madrid commercial court against soccer’s governing bodies. The clubs object to the three-fold role of UEFA and FIFA as regulators of soccer, commercial operators with their own competitions and gatekeepers with authority to limit rivals.

(SD-Agencies)