UEFA accused of stealing new European competition format? Lawsuit seeks €20 million
UEFA has found itself as the defendant in a legal dispute worth more than €20 million. The lawsuit was filed by Chilean consulting firm MatchVision, which accuses the European football governing body of unlawfully using a tournament stage format it developed—one that has been implemented in European competitions since 2024.
According to The Athletic, MatchVision took the case to a Spanish court back in April. The initial hearing was held in the Commercial Court of Madrid—the same court that recently rejected UEFA's appeal in the European Super League case. The matter was later transferred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
MatchVision founder Leandro Sara claims he patented a system as far back as 2006, in which teams are divided into groups based on rankings, and presented it to UEFA officials and at several international conferences in 2013. According to Sara, when faced with the threat of the European Super League in 2021, UEFA accelerated its tournament reforms and adopted the model he had proposed.
Sara insists that UEFA deliberately concealed the idea’s origins, rebranding the format and infringing on his intellectual property rights. As a result, MatchVision is demanding €20 million in compensation from UEFA, while Sara himself is seeking an additional €200,000 plus interest for three seasons. The lawsuit claims that the plaintiff possesses technical documents, video materials, and witness statements supporting his authorship of the model.
Jan Novak
Dailysports's expert
