The EU in International Sports Governance

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Arnout Geeraert

   Pages 1-23

3. The EU’s Engagement with FIFA and UEFA: Principals, Agents, and Supervisors

   • Arnout Geeraert

   Pages 24-49

4. Representation and Control in the Governance of European Football

   • Arnout Geeraert

   Pages 50-82

5. The EU Law Route

   • Arnout Geeraert

   Pages 83-107

6. The EU Sports Policy Route

   • Arnout Geeraert

   Pages 108-136

7. The Limits of EU Control

   • Arnout Geeraert

   Pages 137-157

8. Conclusion

   • Arnout Geeraert

   Pages 158-172

9. Back Matter

   Pages 173-208

   PDF

This book demonstrates that the European Union (EU) can curtail the autonomy of FIFA and UEFA by building upon insights from the principal-agent model. The author argues that EU institutional features complicate control, but do not render the EU powerless, and that FIFA and UEFA can deploy a variety of strategies to mitigate control.

• Control
• exogenous control
• FIFA
• football governance
• mitigation
• principal agent
• steering
• UEFA
• EU
• international football laws
• sports governing bodies
• EU Law
• Europe
• European Union
• European Union (EU)
• Governance
• Institution
• Policy
• european union politics

“Arnout Geeraert has written an authoritative, theoretically-informed and timely study of one of the most challenging issues facing international football. It should be required reading for all those concerned about the quality of governance of the world’s most popular sport.” (Professor Barrie Houlihan, Loughborough University, UK)

“Arnout Geeraert has written a penetrating account of how the EU has established itself in the field of sports governance. By developing an innovative framework for analysing the relationship between the EU and private governing bodies, this book’s relevance goes well beyond the area of sports governance. Required reading for anyone interested in the developing role of the EU.” (Professor Sebastiaan Princen, Utrecht University, the Netherlands)

“This book offers a very thorough and thoughtful analysis of European football governance. Arnout Geeraert provides an impressive elucidation of a complex and underexplored topic. His timely book makes a very fine contribution to the literature. It should be essential reading for all those interested in European sport governance and will also be of great interest for students and scholars of European Integration Studies and Sport Studies more generally.” (Professor Arne Niemann, University of Mainz, Germany)

• Leuven International and European Studies Institute, Belgium

  Arnout Geeraert

Arnout Geeraert is Post-Doctoral Fellow at Leuven International and European Studies (LINES), University of Leuven, Belgium. He is governance advisor to Play the Game/ Danish Institute for Sports Studies. His current work explores the role of the European Union in international sport through different theoretical lenses and looks into elements of good governance in sport organisations in general.

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