football – Official Blog of UNIO

4574695153_8ab9686e44_o

by Álvaro Alzina Lozano, PhD candidate and Lecturer of Criminal Law at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

▪

On the occasion of the celebration of sporting events in the European Union of such high magnitude as the (UEFA) Champions League, we must analyze how the Union itself has provided cooperation mechanisms to the Member States in order to eradicate possible violent acts in stadiums, because we all remember the lousy images of the last football games in the 2016 European Championship held in France where groups of ultras coming from different cities started urban wars.

The concerns of the European institutions to eliminate the violence generated by hooligans has its origin in the tragedy of Heysel, in which during the 1985 Champions League final at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels (Belgium) 39 fans died after an avalanche caused by the Liverpool hooligans. Furthermore, we must add that two weeks later another 56 fans died in a football stadium in Valley Parade due to a fire.

These main facts caused a movement of concern in the European institutions to prevent these sorts of incidents, and the Council of Europe approved in that year the European Convention on Spectator Violence and Misbehaviour at Sports Events and in particular at Football Matches, which was modified in 2015 by a more updated one.
Continue reading “The security at sports events: an important issue for the European Union” →

by Rita de Sousa Costa, law student at UMinho
and Tiago Sérgio Cabral, law student at UMinho

▪

The results of the referendum held in Great Britain on the 23^rd of June of 2016 shall certainly change the course of history. On this day “Brexit” trumped “Bremain” by 52% against 48% with a turnout of about 72%. And while the results of the referendum are not binding it does seem that the British government plans to respect the will of the voters.

Leaving the EU will affect not only the economy but every single aspect of the lives of the British people, including sports. The British love sports, mainly football, and Britain, more precisely England has one of most competitive football leagues in the world: the Premier League. Nigel Farage a top UK politician and one of the most prominent leave supporters said in April:

“What this referendum is about is taking back control of our lives, our laws and our borders”.

However, we must ask ourselves what are the consequences of “taking back our laws and borders” for the Premier League?

Farage is a supporter of Crystal Palace, whose team is composed of 32 players, and 12 of those players are not British. Manchester United, the winner of the FA Cup, regularly plays with 7 non-British players on its line-up even if in total it has more than 50% British players on its roster. How will the Premier League survive after Brexit? Will its teams agree with Farage’s statement “outside of this single market we will be better off” (here)?
Continue reading “Brexit and the European Football Market: The Consequences for the Premier League and the British Players” →