Platini wants to keep lawyers out of football

Platini fears the EU Commission will fail to adopt measures proposed in the EU white paper on sport, calling for legal recognition of the social and cultural values of sport, not merely treating the sport as business.

“I hope they will listen to the world of sport … I am very afraid of the bad decisions they will take for the future of sport. It’s an important moment, and I hope they will understand what people want for the future of sport. It’s sport, it is not a product. It is part of our life. If they go this way, I will be very confident. If they say it is a product, it is the end of our sport,” he says to The Financial Times.

“You can’t kill the philosophy of 150 years of football, a social activity, because of a commissioner who has never played sport, because of the simple right that a sportsman is a worker” he told the newspaper.

 Prior to Platini’s comments, UEFA, along with FIBA Europe (basketball), the EHF (handball) and the CEV (volleyball) issued a joint statement in support of the white paper (click here to download the statement from the UEFA website) in response to the growing influence of EU law on sport.

“Recent and upcoming EU court cases could have a very damaging effect on all sports across Europe” declare the federations. “These cases could effectively hand the definition of sports rules from sport itself to the judges in the European Court of Justice. Sport, including its social, educational and cultural features, would risk being treated exactly like any profit-making business.”

“European sport is not asking for an exemption from the law or to be above the law. European sport is, however, asking the EU, after more than 30 years of cases and challenges, to finally provide the necessary legal certainty and stability – which will not exist until there is a clear legal recognition of the specificity of sport.”

In giving their support to the white paper, the federations also claim the backing of the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, stating that the white paper is a natural outcome of the Nice Declaration of 2000, namely the recognition of the social and cultural value of sport.

Football associations afraid of legal impact on sport
Platini singled out for particular attention the case currently before the European courts of Belgian club Royal Charleroi and the world governing body for football, FIFA.

With the support of the G-14 grouping of major European football clubs, Charleroi argue that FIFA regulations obliging them to release their players for international matches constitutes an abuse of FIFA’s dominant position under EU competition law.

Although UEFA are not a party to the case, Platini highlights this as just one example of the organisation of world football being driven by lawsuits rather than sporting bodies.

“We need to have a deal with all the families [of football] and not have our problems in front of tribunals or courts in Brussels. Everybody is afraid of that. We don’t know where we can go with that. The national associations are afraid of the Charleroi case which says a player can leave a national association. They are afraid, not just in England, but Georgia, France, even Brazil.”

Support for white paper not universal
The white paper is not without its critics, not only within the European Commission, but also within the sporting world. The Premier League describes the proposals as “heavy-handed and unworkable”, and is reluctant to cede greater control to UEFA, without greater representation for clubs within the sporting body.

However, in a separate interview with the Financial Times, UK Sports Minister Richard Caborn warned the Premier League that they risked even harsher legislation unless they took a greater role in the process.

“There are storm clouds gathering on Europe’s skies,” warned Caborn. “Unless you get in there and influence what is being proposed then you could well be the recipient of much stricter legislation of things that go against you.”

“What the Premier League have got to acknowledge is that the government of football is not the Premier League, it is the FA [Football Association], UEFA and FIFA. They have got to work inside the governance of football and not the 20 clubs of the Premier League.”

Caborn realises it will be hard to win support for the paper in Brussels though.

“The political challenge is, is the commission prepared to give sport back to the people? Are they prepared to give powers to sport to carry out better governance and regulation without being threatened by the courts of Europe?”

The white paper will be published on 4 July 2007.