EU court rules Barcelona tax breaks are illegal state aid

FC Barcelona lost the final round of a fight with the European Union over allegedly unfair tax breaks for top Spanish soccer teams, Bloomberg reports.

The EU’s Court of Justice on Thursday upheld an order by the European Commission classifying the tax arrangements of four Spanish professional football clubs, also including Real Madrid, as illegal state aid.

The ruling overturns a ruling by the lower EU court in 2019. The court at the time found that EU officials had “not shown to the requisite legal standard that the measure at issue conferred an advantage on its beneficiaries.”

The case is: C-362/19 P, Commission v. Futbol Club Barcelona