The European sports model - upon which most of Europe’s sporting institutions are built - promotes solidarity across different levels of sport, ensuring that revenue generated by professional competition is reinvested into developing football at grassroots levels.

"By endorsing the existing pyramid structure of European football, based on open competition, including promotion and relegation, the agreement also reinforces UEFA’s and the EC's opposition to the so-called ‘European Super League’ proposal and the pure commercial entertainment model," UEFA said.

"This embodies the direction of European Union (EU) sports policy given in recent landmark resolutions by the European Parliament and EU member states (Council of the EU)."

The EC-UEFA Arrangement for Cooperation was signed by UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin and European Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.

It provides a "roadmap" for joint efforts up to 2025.

"Europe’s core principle is solidarity," said Schinas.

"UEFA and the European Commission will ensure that UEFA’s competitions remain a success story embedded in our European model of sport."

Welcoming the agreement as a demonstration of the enduring strength of partnership between the two European bodies, the UEFA President said: "These last years have seen an intense period of cooperation between UEFA and our EU partners facing generational challenges to the European way of life and our European sports model.

"As this agreement signals, our partnership - based on decades of trust and open relations - is stronger than ever and we have a roadmap to develop ambitiously into the future together for the benefit of all."

Next month’s UEFA-led Convention on the Future of European Football will bring together representatives of fans, players, clubs, leagues and the governing body’s 55 member associations, with the EC supporting as a formal observer to the process.

"This is a unique partnership," Schinas added.

"We will keep working within the existing structures and framework in full alignment with European objectives towards serving and bringing together society and citizens."

In July this year a UEFA lawyer described the ill-starred European Super League, which attempted to establish itself in April last year as a "textbook example of a cartel" at a court hearing.

UEFA’s lawyer Donald Slater made the comment in front of a panel of 15 judges at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg, as reported by Reuters.

The European Super League was initially formed with 12 clubs from England, Spain and Italy only to fold within 48 hours in April following a widespread backlash.

Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid and Italian outfit Juventus are the only clubs that have not withdrawn from the project.

Slater reportedly told the court that the establishment of the European Super League could result in more closed leagues.

According to Bloomberg, Slater said clubs looking to be part of the breakaway league "wanted to have their cake and eat it".

"They wanted to continue to participate in national club competitions," said Slater.

"But to be exempt from the principles of sporting merit and solidarity that underpin them.

"After a course of condemnation by fans, clubs and European leaders, their plans collapsed."