Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545385
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 JUNE 2026 OPINION Bogdan Zdrojewski & David Casa From pitch to politics: Why the EU must catch up with global sport Zdrojewski is EP culture committee vice-chair and Casa heads the Maltese delegation in the EPP Group SPORT was once seen as something that existed above politics. Recent World Cups and the growing geopolitical battles surrounding global competitions show that this is no longer true. Today, sport is not just entertain- ment. It is power, influence and busi- ness. Hosting rights, state-backed in- vestments and the growing commercial dominance of governing bodies such as FIFA increasingly shape international politics and global markets. What was once mainly a social and cultural activi- ty has become a multibillion-euro glob- al industry. For years, sport benefited from a spe- cial status that allowed it to operate with far greater autonomy than most sectors. But as governing bodies over- see markets worth billions and sporting events carry major political and eco- nomic consequences, that exceptional- ism is becoming harder to justify. The EU is increasingly unwilling to treat sport as existing outside its legal and regulatory framework. This matters for the EPP because sport remains deeply intertwined with European life. Millions of Europeans engage with it every day as fans, ath- letes, volunteers and participants. Sport builds communities, promotes health and encourages inclusion, particularly for people with fewer opportunities and people with disabilities. This is the Eu- ropean sport model. Precisely because sport plays such an important social role, the governance of sport and the question of who holds power within it has become a matter of public interest. Trust in sport depends not only on what happens on the pitch, but also on whether the structures behind it are fair, transparent and ac- countable. At the same time, the rapid commer- cialisation of sport has exposed the lim- its of its special status. Cross-border investments, financial flows and the monetisation of major competitions increasingly raise issues that cannot be separated from EU rules on competi- tion, transparency and accountability. The EPP rejects the idea that sport should be beyond the reach of EU law. Recent rulings by the European Court of Justice have confirmed that sporting bodies are subject to European rules when their decisions have significant economic effects. This reflects a broad- er and necessary shift towards stronger governance and greater accountability. The growing debate around tick- et pricing is one example. Dynamic pricing systems are often presented as simple market mechanisms. In reality, sport does not function like a normal competitive market. Fans cannot sim- ply choose another World Cup final, another stadium, or another organiser. As consumer organisations recently warned in a joint letter to Ursula von der Leyen, live sporting events are de- fined by structural scarcity: One organ- iser, one venue, one date, and often one ticketing platform. In that context, dynamic pricing does not reward efficiency. It turns fan loy- alty into a bidding war. The result is increasingly clear—higher prices, re- duced accessibility for ordinary sup- porters and growing frustration among fans across Europe. Complaints linked to major tourna- ments, including competitions organ- ised under the authority of FIFA, are already reaching European regulators. At the same time, another worrying trend is emerging—the attempts to stage domestic league matches abroad. European football clubs are rooted in local communities, traditions and supporters. Turning national league matches into travelling commercial events risks weakening the connection between clubs and the communities that built them. Fans should not be treated as secondary to global market- ing strategies. The geopolitical dimension of sport has also become impossible to ignore. Authoritarian regimes increasingly use international competitions and sport- ing success to project influence, im- prove their image and distract from repression at home. This is particular- ly evident in the continued attempts by Russia and Belarus to use sport as a propaganda tool following Russia's war against Ukraine. European sport cannot be naïve about how international com- petitions can be exploited for political purposes. What we are witnessing around events such as the World Cup is therefore not an isolated consumer issue, but part of a wider structural challenge. Where eco- nomic power is concentrated and sup- porters lack meaningful alternatives, the assumption that sport can simply regulate itself no longer holds. At a time of growing geopolitical ten- sion, sport sits at the crossroads of pol- itics, economic influence and interna- tional prestige. Hosting rights, strategic investments and the governance of ma- jor competitions now have significant geopolitical implications. That makes transparency, accountability and legal certainty more important than ever. For the EPP, this strengthens the case for a clearer and more consistent appli- cation of EU law to sport. None of this means stripping sport of its autonomy. But autonomy cannot mean immunity from transparency, ac- countability or the rule of law. If sport now operates as a global industry with major political and economic conse- quences, its governance must meet the standards expected of any sector with comparable influence. If sport now operates as a global industry with major political and economic consequences, its governance must meet the standards expected of any sector with comparable influence