The European Super League has filed injunctions to protect involved clubs from receiving 'punitive' punishment this season.
Soon after Manchester City, Manchester United and 10 others decided to become founding members of the new Super League on Sunday night, threats of punishments were made by UEFA.
Outraged by the plans to form a breakaway continental competition, UEFA said it would look into banning teams from competitions 'as soon as possible'.
And that's concerning to Manchester City and Manchester United, who are both still involved in European competition this season, currently in the Champions League and Europa League semi-finals respectively.
UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin said on Monday: "We're still assessing with our legal team but we will take all the sanctions that we can and we will inform you as soon we can.
"My opinion is that as soon as possible they have to be banned from all our competitions and the players from all our competitions."
But The Super League have moved quickly in an attempt to stop such punishments from happening with the BBC reporting that the new league has already filed an injunction against 'punitive measures'.
The new league's lawyers told the BBC: "We are concerned that FIFA and UEFA may respond to this invitation letter by seeking to take punitive measures to exclude any participating club or player from their respective competitions."
They added that any 'adverse reaction' would be considered 'unlawful' and that they had filed papers with "the relevant courts" to prevent the "seamless establishment and operation of the competition in accordance with applicable laws".
UEFA are said to be considering what legal options they have ahead of taking any action against the 12 clubs, and FIFA have already said it would support any action, claiming teams are either 'in or out'.
A Super League 'insider' told the BBC: "I think in the cold light of day, they are looking at this and the reality is dawning that this is happening and it's perfectly legal."
