ABSTRACT
Shortly after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered its ruling in the Bosman case, UEFA President Lennart Johansson personified the state of shock which football bodies across Europe were under: “The European Union is trying to destroy club football” (Thomsen, 1995). On the opposite side, European Commissioner for Competition Policy, Dutchman Karel van Miert, underlined in a harsh, but extremely realistic way football’s need for change: “UEFA needs to evolve, whether they like it or not” (quoted in Hopquin, 1995). More than 15 years after the Bosman shock, European football is now coming to terms with the policies of the EU (García, 2007, 2009a), and the game’s organisational structures have certainly evolved, as Karel van Miert demanded. Whilst the European Union has no power to regulate directly on football structures, its policies have had a profound impact on the governance of the beautiful game.
