MADRID, 13 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The European Super League must change its name after the Danish League, known as 3F Super League, received this Wednesday “full approval” from the European Union (EU), confirming that “a possible future European league cannot be allowed to register the brand ‘Superliga’ as a trademark, according to a statement from the continental competition.
“‘Superliga’ is a trademark jointly owned by the Danish clubs, so a potential future European league cannot be allowed to register the ‘Superliga’ brand as a trademark in the EU. The EU trademark authority has given now its full approval to the Danish clubs,” reported the Danish competition.
The project led by the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, with the support of the president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, and under the coordination of A22 Sports and its CEO, Bernd Reichart, opted for the name ‘European Super League’ for the launch of a new continental club football competition project.
His push provoked “enormous opposition” from national leagues and confederations, the European Leagues Association and UEFA, as well as various football fan groups across Europe.
“The opposition is mainly based on the fact that the league will be almost closed, in which most clubs will be permanent members with no real risk of relegation and, most importantly, the league will not respect the annual classification of the national leagues for international club competitions,” analyzed the Danish Superliga.
The Danish competition considered in its statement that the ‘European Super League Company SL’ brand “would represent an infringement”, since “it is the trademark jointly owned by the Danish clubs.”
“We are very pleased that the EU trademark authority has agreed that the ‘Super League’ brand in the EU will violate the value that Danish clubs have invested in the 3F Super League. We have always been against the wish of the big clubs in create a new European league. There must be opening and qualification for international club tournaments through national competitions,” said the CEO of the Danish Super League, Claus Thomsen, happy with the “victory off the field.”
Thus, from the Danish competition they insisted that this EU decision “means that the brand cannot be registered by ‘European Super League Company SL’, so “they must appeal the decision or come up with another name.”