The Ukraine jersey, the qualification of North Macedonia, the matches played by Turkey in Baku… When you scratch the varnish of football, politics is never far away.
Euro-2021, which began on June 11, is another illustration of this.
Since November 2019, Kévin Veyssière, French parliamentary assistant, has been trying to tell the story of football.
In the form of a thread on Twitter and under the pseudonym of "FC Geopolitics", he deciphers in an educational way the small stories, the great controversies in the history of this popular sport.
A year and a half and 35,000 subscribers later, he published a book based on his own account and telling "22 unusual stories to understand the world".
On the occasion of the Euro, he hosts a podcast which deciphers the issues behind certain matches.
Questioned by France 24, he does the same by recalling that the very history of the Euro is political.
France 24: Your book opens with an observation: that of a football Euro intimately linked to the history of Europe. Can we go so far as to say that competition is the sporting counterpart of European construction?
Kévin Veyssière:
For a Euro that was designed to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the event, it is not trivial to have chosen Rome as the venue for the opening match: this is where the treaty was signed of Rome which created the European Economic Community (ECSC) in 1957. The first part tells how the Euro was born after the Second World War: the European nations then sought to unite. Several initiatives are being put in place at the diplomatic, economic but also sporting level. This will lead to the creation of UEFA in 1954, on the initiative of Henri Delaunay, secretary of the FFF. He already wanted to create a Euro in the 20s but his idea was not successful due to the creation of the World Cup (in 1930, NLDR).
UEFA was created above all to counter the influence of South American nations which threatened European hegemony in terms of football and which already had their Copa America since 1916. However, it is the English newspaper Daily Mirror which will create a chain of events which will lead to the creation of the Euro.
In 1954, he claimed that Wolverhampton was the best club in the world.
French rivals obviously don't like it.
They counter-attack and create the Champions Clubs Cup, the ancestor of the Champions League.
The popular success is such that the Euro opposing the selections is created in stride.
From its inception, the Euro made it possible to cross borders.
At the time, the Iron Curtain was still alive, but UEFA included countries from the East and the West.
Proof that the Euro allows peace between nations.
The book continues by recalling that throughout history, the Euro has been at the forefront of all the upheavals in history, when Franco's Spain refuses to play against the USSR, the break-up of Yugoslavia, the recognition of Croatia… This year, with the pandemic, great history is still coming to football
?
Football is the most popular sport in the world.
It impacts everything around us.
This year, with the Covid-19, several governments have made this Euro a showcase for their policy vis-à-vis the pandemic and vaccination.
We saw this in particular with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was very active, in particular by offering to host the entire competition.
He wants to show that his health policy and Brexit have worked.
In Hungary, Viktor Orban politicized the reception of supporters and the Euro, being the only host country to welcome 100% of spectators in its stadium.
Hungary is, however, one of the countries with the highest death rate.
Viktor Orban is used to using sport to promote his political regime.
🇭🇺 HUNGARY 🇭🇺
To wait before France-Germany 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 new episode on the Puskás Arena and the Hungarian team 🇭🇺 dear to Prime Minister Viktor Orban #HUNPOR # EURO2020
The podcast with @podiio_ ⤵️ https: // t .co / 7G0sm8PIu2 pic.twitter.com/yTbaJCTqj0
- Football Club Geopolitics (@FCGeopolitics) June 15, 2021
The Euro forward was also animated by the controversy over the jersey of Ukraine
: what happened?
The revelation of Ukraine's jersey created controversy.
On this jersey, we see Ukrainian territory including Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Russia very quickly drew to say that it was a scandal to question its territorial integrity in this way and to instrumentalize sport.
Which can make you smile because Russia is used to this sport and political mix as we saw with the Sochi Olympics or the 2018 World Cup.
Ukraine has used this Euro to shed light on this forgotten conflict.
She also uses it to recreate a bond after having been physically abused in recent years.
In any case, the chances of the draw mean that the two could meet in the quarterfinals, which could be explosive.
What are the other files to follow during this Euro?
In the matches to follow, I will put England-Scotland (which will take place on Friday, editor's note), the Brexit match. The game will take place at Wembley, the temple of English football. In general, these derbies are quite hot but here it will be all the more so with the Brexit issue as a backdrop. Scotland had voted to stay in the EU. They want to be independent to return to the European fold. A victory for Scotland would be very symbolic for them.
We can also talk about everything related to the Turkish national team and links with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. For him too, football is a way to legitimize his regime. He uses it to show that Turkey is a strong nation internationally. However, this should not be interpreted as supporting the president. The players primarily support their nation more than Erdogan himself.
It is not necessarily necessary to see an instrumentalisation behind every gesture of players.
The match between PSG and Istanbul Basaksehir interrupted due to racist slurs proved that the players can take the initiative.
Just like when Norway and Denmark wore jerseys to denounce the conditions of workers in Qatar.
Players are increasingly using their sport to convey messages, without necessarily being instrumentalized.
A book to be found at Editions Max Milo © Max Milo
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