Abuse of dominant position, the Antitrust fines the FIGC over four million
The Federation announces the appeal to the TAR: "Unjustified sanction, based on documented arguments and on incorrect legal reasoning"
ROME – The Competition and Market Authority has fined the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) for a total amount of over 4 million euros (4,203,447.54 euros). The Authority has in fact ascertained that the FIGC, at least starting from 1 July 2015, has implemented a complex exclusionary strategy to strengthen its dominant position in the organization of youth football competitions of a competitive nature and to also extend it to the amateur recreational activity market, in which it operates in competition with Sports Promotion Bodies (EPS). This is what we read in a note from the Antitrust. The abusive strategy was carried out first and foremost through the FIGC’s failure to stipulate the agreements required by the CONI EPS Regulation (2014) for the carrying out of competitive activity, explains the note. This allowed the Federation to preclude EPS from accessing the market for the organization of competitive events, thus guaranteeing itself a position of substantial monopoly.
Secondly, the FIGC used its regulatory power instrumentally, illegitimately considering as competitive the amateur activity carried out by Sports Promotion Bodies with athletes between the ages of 12 and 17. Furthermore, it also imposed an agreement between the Federation and the EPS and the pre-authorization of the event for athletes up to 12 years of age (by definition not included in competitive activity), thus limiting the freedom of the Amateur Sports Associations affiliated to the FIGC and of their athletes with dual membership to participate in the tournaments organized by the Eps, concludes the note. In this way, the ability of Sports Promotion Bodies to exert sufficient competitive pressure on the Federation has been reduced, hindering and/or weakening competition in the market for the organization of recreational-amateur events.
FIGC ON ANTITRUST: APPEAL TO THE TAR AGAINST UNJUSTIFIED SANCTION
“With reference to the communication received today from the Antitrust Authority, the FIGC considers the sanction unjustified, based on documented arguments and on incorrect legal reasoning. Furthermore, this sanction was imposed with the same reasons with which the Italian Equestrian Sports Federation (FISE) was sanctioned in a similar proceeding, a decision later annulled by the Council of State, with sentence no. 5054 of last June, reiterating its absolute correctness of its actions, the FIGC announces that the appeal is in the process of being notified, with a request for suspension, to the TAR of Lazio”. The FIGC explains this in a note regarding the decision of the Competition and Market Authority to sanction the Italian Football Federation for a total amount of over 4 million euros (4,203,447.54 euros), for having “implemented a complex exclusionary strategy to strengthen its dominant position in the organization of competitive youth football competitions and to also extend it to the amateur recreational activity market, in which it operates in competition with the Sports Promotion Bodies (Eps ).