ABSTRACT
Football unites and divides the continent of Europe. The humble (amateur) and not-so-humble (professional) football ground is, even more so than the outlets of a certain fast-food chain, the one common, even ubiquitous element of Europe's landscape from the Atlantic to the Alps, and from the Mediterranean to the Irish Sea. Indeed, some 20 million men and women come together to play football in Europe on an organised basis while countless millions more attend matches as spectators, watch the sport on television, listen to it on the radio, engage with it on the Internet and read about it in the press. The sport's governing bodies, such as FIFA and UEFA, have set up international tournaments that allow Europeans, whether playing for or supporting national teams or domestic club sides, to meet in competition against each other while the increasing mobility of prof essional footballers — aided by legislation such as the Bosman ruling — has also brought Europeans into much more frequent contact with each other through the sport than at any other period in the game 's history.
