WRITTEN QUESTION P-0894/02

by Freddy Blak (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(22 March 2002)

Subject: Unfair terms of competition in football

Corruption is all too often a feature of how sports events are organised and venues selected. Unfortunately, irregularities occur even in connection with the Olympic Games but such problems are also found within football. One method of ensuring fair conditions in the world of sport is to make decision-making transparent and to draw up clear rules.

In Denmark, an unfair situation has arisen in the competition between the top-flight football clubs owing to the fact that F.C. Lyngby went bankrupt in the middle of the current season. Following the bankruptcy, the club played with an amateur team in the same division. Everyone including the Danish Football Association (DBU), which is responsible for the tournament is agreed that Lyngby should have been eliminated as a result of the bankruptcy but the DBU had forgotten to adjust the rules. Consequently, Lyngby has played some clubs twice but other clubs only once with a professional team, which has not put all clubs in the same competitive position an absurd situation which is not in the interests of anyone involved in sport or of any football club. Unfortunately, the entire situation is dependent on an antiquated organisation like the DBU having its rules in order. The woeful outcome is that, unless the Commission intervenes, the richest club in Denmark, F.C. Copenhagen all else being equal will reap the benefit.

Will the Commission therefore confirm that it will intervene to ensure that free competition takes place, to the great satisfaction of sponsors, investors and, of course, sportsmen and fans? Will the Commission also say how it will secure transparency in the decision-making of major sporting organisations?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2002)

The Commission would remind the Honourable Member that both it in its report on sport to the Helsinki Council(1) and the Council in its declaration annexed to the conclusions of the Nice European Council (7-9 December 2000)(2) have stressed their support for the independence of sports organisations and their right to organise themselves through appropriate associative structures. It is therefore the task of the sports organisations to organise and promote their particular sports, particularly as regards the specific rules applicable and the make-up of national teams. Naturally this task must be carried out in compliance with national and Community legislation.

The matter raised by the Honourable Member, namely can a club play its team as professional and subsequently as amateur during the same season, is clearly governed by the rules specific to the sport and the need for federations to organise their sport independently. It is consequently not for the Commission to examine the validity of the decision taken by the Danish Football Association (DBU).

(1) Report from the Commission to the European Council with a view to safeguarding current sports structures and maintaining the social function of sport within the Community framework The Helsinki Report on Sport (COM(1999) 644 final).

(2) Declaration on the specific characteristics of sport and its social function in Europe, of which account should be taken in implementing common policies.