Moc prawna art. 165 TFUE i ochrona prawna Europejskiego Modelu Sportu w najnowszym orzecznictwie TSUE

Państwo i Prawo 2025, nr 1, s. 30-52.

The text presents the evolving approach of the Court of Justice of the European Union to the European Sports Model, on the example of three CoJ judgments of 21 December 2023, which significantly changed the previous ‘rules of the game’. In 2009, sport became one of the EU’s coordinating powers under Articles 6 and 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Since then, EU institutions have obtained a legal basis to take measures in the field of sport, but this provision has been limited in practice to the application of EU law to sport by the CoJ. This resulted in limited practical use of Article 165 TFEU and had the effect of calling into question its legal force. In this context, cases C-333/21, European Superleague Company; C-680/21, Royal Antwerp Football Club and C-124/21 P, International Skating Union, which concern EU competition law and the freedoms of the internal market, constitute significant intervention in the functioning of organized sport in Europe and clearly define the European Sport Model for the future. The above cases also settle research issues relating to the legal force of Article 165 TFEU. This article aims to comprehensively discuss these decisions and their relevance for the principles of application of EU law to the activities of sports federations, while presenting the actions of other EU institutions, namely the European Parliament, the Council of the EU, and the Commission, as well as the views expressed in opinions of Advocates General and in literature.