'Responsibility to act': Football, and sport in general, 'embedded in a political landscape'
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00:00Now to Euro 2024, where France's parliamentary elections are looming over Les Bleus' preparation
00:05for their opening game against Austria later today.
00:08Midfielder Marcus Tourame had already spoken out against France's far-right over the weekend.
00:14And when asked about the legislative elections on Sunday, France's captain, Guylain Mbappé,
00:18spoke about his fears of the rise of extremes, saying that his country is facing unprecedented
00:23circumstances and he called on young people to get out and vote.
00:29I'd like to address all the French people, especially the younger generation.
00:35We are a generation that can make a difference.
00:38Today it's clear that the extremes are on the doorstep of power.
00:41We have the opportunity to choose the future of our country.
00:45And that's why I'm calling on all young people to go out and vote, to really realise the
00:49importance of the situation.
00:53We need to identify with values of diversity, tolerance and respect.
00:58And for more on the Euros and to talk about the geopolitical implications of the European
01:04Championships and football in general is Tobias Finger, research associate at the Fanzine
01:09Project.
01:11Good morning, Tobias.
01:12We have seen how countries in other parts of the world, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia,
01:18have scrambled to host the World Cup in an effort to project soft power.
01:23Is there any comparative incentive for European countries to host tournaments like this, given
01:29that they are fairly costly undertakings?
01:32Yeah, of course, you could say so.
01:35It makes sense for democratic countries to showcase democracy and how tournaments can
01:40work in democratic countries.
01:43Showcase also bringing people together and hosting tournaments for everyone, for connection,
01:48for exchange and for interaction between fans from different nationalities.
01:53And the last time Germany hosted a major men's tournament was the World Cup in 2006.
01:58And at that time, Germans famously overcame their decade-long aversion to flag-waving,
02:06which more or less had been in place since the end of the Second World War.
02:11Now 18 months, 18 years on rather, nationalism is not such a dirty word for a large minority
02:17of the population.
02:19What impact do you think the rise of the far-right might have on this tournament?
02:23Well, we will have to see, actually.
02:27It's still early on in the tournament.
02:28We'll have to see what the rise of the far-right might mean, how it might impact the tournament.
02:34But of course, it's important that, like the French players have done, players, but also
02:40associations and officials take the platform, use their reach to also promote the values
02:47that they represent, that they stand for, and speak out.
02:52That's really important.
02:53And we saw that already, and we will probably see it again during this tournament, I will
02:57imagine.
02:58And UEFA, in qualifying campaigns, has a tendency to avoid some countries that have, for instance,
03:07geopolitical disputes from playing against one another.
03:10Examples might be Spain and Gibraltar, or Armenia and Azerbaijan.
03:14Now, this isn't really possible in an actual tournament like the Euros, where it's pretty
03:19much set in stone, the fixtures.
03:23Are there any potential political flashpoints we could see in the coming weeks?
03:27I mean, definitely there are some political flashpoints we might see.
03:33Serbia and Albania are both qualified for the tournament.
03:36We'll have to see how far they can get out of the group stage, maybe, if they can make
03:40it out of the group stage.
03:41But that would definitely be interesting to see how it plays out.
03:45But there's also teams like Ukraine or Georgia, which definitely are interesting points in
03:51their political developments.
03:54And we will see how that plays out in the tournament and what political opinions will
04:00be voiced maybe in the stands by the fans, whether UEFA will even permit these political
04:05opinions to be voiced, because UEFA has a fairly restrictive stance on political opinion
04:10in the stadiums.
04:12And we will see what the players maybe might have to say about issues.
04:17And speaking on the matter of the Ukraine war, one fallout of that has been the absentees
04:24from the Euros of Russia.
04:25They're missing the tournament for the first time in 40 years, if we include the Soviet
04:30Union.
04:31They have been suspended from all competitions by UEFA.
04:35Few countries on the continent want to play them.
04:39But is there any chance that Russia might look elsewhere to play football if this continues
04:44on for much longer, for instance, by going to Asia, where they've got quite a few allies
04:49there?
04:50I mean, it is possible, but so far, I don't think it's an actual opportunity or an actual
04:58plan.
05:00It's also the case that, of course, there would be some regulatory obstacles.
05:04That would be a longer process.
05:06But also for Russia, I think it would mean basically to concede to these restrictions
05:12or the sanctions put on them, because Europe, in terms of sporting competitiveness, is the
05:19place to be.
05:21And voluntarily stepping out of Europe and moving over to Asia, that would not be the
05:27smartest step sporting-wise and prestige-wise for Russia.
05:31And Philipp Lahm, who was, of course, Germany's World Cup winning captain in 2014, and he
05:36is now the chair of the Euro 2024 Organising Committee, he has said there will be 75 fewer
05:44plane trips compared to the 2016 tournament in France.
05:48He said that purchased tickets come with free public transport in the whole city for 36
05:53hours for fans with tickets.
05:56Is this a sign that football is going green or is it perhaps maybe greenwashing, so to
06:01speak?
06:02Well, football has to go green eventually.
06:06Football has tried to do everything to go greener and grow more sustainable and reform
06:11its structures and also, yeah, how people travel.
06:16There are definitely lots, lots of people researching this and making very, very smart
06:21suggestions.
06:22And it's important.
06:23And it also showcases once again how football and how sport in general is political and
06:28how it is embedded in a political landscape.
06:32Also when it comes to climate crisis, the impeding and ongoing climate crisis, where
06:36football and sports have definitely a responsibility to act accordingly and try and prevent worse
06:43things from happening or do their part to maybe improve the situation and progress in
06:49the right direction.
06:50Thank you very much for that, Tobias Finger.
06:53Research Associate at the Fanzine Project in Berlin.