Competition developments in the sports sector – Ahead of the Game: Sports Horizon Scanning 2026

The intersection of sports governance and competition law has continued to face judicial scrutiny, with competition authorities and courts aiming to balance their role in regulating sport governing bodies’ economic activities with the unique social and cultural role sport plays in the UK and across Europe.

The past year has seen significant developments both in EU and UK competition law concerning sports. The Football Governance Act (FGA) received Royal Assent in 2025, establishing the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), following a fan-led review of football governance in the UK. The European Commission (EC) launched dawn raids on ski equipment manufacturing facilities in Austria in October 2025, investigating alleged cartel behaviour under Article 101 TFEU. Meanwhile, the fallout from the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) 'Sports Trilogy' judgments continues to reverberate, with Advocate General (AG) Emiliou's opinions in RCC Sports, ROGON and Tondela published in May, potentially narrowing the scope of restrictions deemed anticompetitive 'by object'. Private enforcement in this space continues to be active, with new litigation sprouting on the back of the CJEU’s judgment in Superleague.

Key developments and predictions for 2026

The IFR

The FGA marks a major shift in English football, introducing a statutory regime, alongside existing self-regulation, and establishing the IFR whose primary mandate is to safeguard the financial resilience and heritage of English football. The Act embeds strong competition law elements, most notably by granting appeal rights to the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT), whose open-justice framework is expected to influence how governance disputes are addressed in football.

Since receiving Royal Assent in 2025, the IFR has begun consulting on tougher ownership tests and an enforcement toolkit ahead of full operation in 2026-27. Its licensing regime will require clubs to demonstrate financial soundness and proper governance, with discretionary conditions allowing intervention in debt, liquidity and internal controls. Owners and officers will face enhanced suitability tests, including scrutiny of past financial failures, with forced divestment at the stricter end of the sanctioning powers available for those deemed unfit.

The Act gives the IFR powers not dissimilar to the Competition and Markets Authority, by granting it the ability to impose behavioural and structural remedies through discretionary licence conditions, and the ability to issue significant financial penalties up to a percentage of turnover. This is interesting given the IFR has not been awarded concurrent competition law powers.

At the same time, the Act leaves existing contractual regimes and sporting sanctions with the leagues, creating a parallel system that may give rise to tensions where competition-style enforcement meets collective decision-making by economically interdependent clubs. 

 Ski raids 

The EC has intensified its scrutiny of the winter sports industry, conducting unannounced inspections (dawn raids) at three Austrian ski equipment facilities in October 2025, targeting suspected cartel behaviour. 

Commission officials, accompanied by counterparts from the relevant EU national competition authority (notably not including the UK’s CMA), executed the dawn raids on the basis of suspected violations of Article 101 TFEU. The investigation centres on whether the companies collaborated to restrict competition or manipulate market conditions through anticompetitive agreements or practices. 

While the inspections represent a preliminary step and do not establish guilt or prejudice the investigation's outcomes, the Commission would have secured sufficient evidence to warrant such action. All targeted companies have confirmed that they are fully cooperating with the authorities, though there is no legal deadline for completing these inquiries, with duration depending on the complexity of each case and the extent of party cooperation. 

Superleague and beyond 

Following the ‘Sports Trilogy’ of last year (Superleague, International Skating Union and Royal Antwerp) the next ‘trilogy’ of competition law cases concerning sport is on the horizon, with Advocate General (AG) Emiliou’s opinions in RCC Sports, ROGON and Tondela having been published in May this year. While the CJEU is not required to follow the AG’s Opinions (this being underlined following AG Rantos’ Opinions in the original Sports Trilogy which were not followed), it would be relatively unsurprising given these Opinions seemingly endorse much of the CJEU’s case law in the Sports Trilogy judgments. If AG Emiliou’s Opinions are followed, this will be of particular interest to sport governing bodies as he opined that no-poach agreements, fee caps and licensing requirements do not necessarily constitute restrictions of competition by object. In particular, it will be interesting to see if the CJEU continues to endorse a narrow view of any ‘sporting exception’ as they did in Superleague, in situations where sport governing body rules affect a parameter of competition (e.g. raising barriers to entry). 

In the UK, CAT judges have cited Superleague even in cases not concerning sport governing bodies (Up and Running v Deckers 2024), indicating EU developments in the sports sector are very likely to continue influencing UK cases. 

Apart from the upcoming judgments in RCC Sports, ROGON and Tondela, the fallout from Superleague continues to play on, with Real Madrid recently filing damages claim against UEFA for 4.5 billion euros and A22 Sports Management (who supported discussions behind Superleague) also filing antitrust damages claim against UEFA.

What’s the impact on sports organisations? 

Sports organisations and businesses operating in the sector should prepare for heightened regulatory scrutiny across multiple jurisdictions.

In the UK, football clubs owners and governing bodies must now strengthen governance, compliance and financial planning while closely monitoring emerging licence conditions and regulatory guidance to navigate an increasingly competition-law informed regulatory landscape.

Businesses in the ski equipment and winter sports sector, indeed in all analogous equipment sectors, particularly those with European supply chains, should carefully review collaboration arrangements with competitors to ensure compliance with Article 101 TFEU and UK competition law. The EC's willingness to conduct dawn raids signals increased enforcement appetite, and UK businesses may face CMA scrutiny given renewed information-sharing mechanisms.

More broadly, sport governing bodies should monitor the upcoming CJEU judgments in RCC Sports, ROGON and Tondela, which may clarify the boundaries of permissible regulation. While the sporting exception has not been relegated altogether, sport governing bodies should carefully assess the content, legal and economic context and objective of rules affecting a parameter of competition – to ensure such rules can be justified as proportionate and necessary for legitimate sporting objectives.

To read the full report for Ahead of the Game: Sports Horizon Scanning 2026, click here.