The article examines the relationship between the autonomy of sports governing bodies and the application of European Union competition law in professional football, through the lens of the evolving case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and, in particular, the recent judgment delivered in Case C‑133/24, CD Tondela and Others. The paper highlights the gradual transformation of professional sport from a field tradition...

In Case C-681/11 Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde, Bundeskartellanwalt v Schenker & Co. and Others, in a judgment issued on 18 June 2013, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) considered that a company that infringed EU competition rules cannot be exempt from the application of a fine in spite of claims that it relied on legal advice given by a lawyer with regard to the compatibil...