The guardians of European football: UEFA Financial Fair Play and the career of social problems

Abstract

UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) policy represents a severe regulatory intervention in European club football competitions. While potential outcomes of the concept have been thoroughly assessed, there is little research on the genesis and background behind its implementation. The present paper fills this gap by analyzing the discourse in the run-up to the passage of FFP. We focus on interpreted practice and context and argue that the rising indebtedness of clubs and their increasing reliance on benefactors were a necessary but not sufficient requirement. Further ingredients imperative for the successful policy development were claims-making activities by influential actors to secure support for their problem perception. Strong discourse coalitions were formed around powerful storylines, such as the interpretation of making debts as ‘cheating’ as well as the notion of traditional sporting values being undermined by financial forces. By detecting such mechanisms of interaction, the study helps to better understand the beliefs and ideologies underpinning the policy. It furthermore identifies discrepancies between public discourse and scholarly debate concerning the problem assessment as well as the proposed solutions and their effectiveness. Additionally, it proposes an improved heuristic for understanding discursive practices which contributes to future investigations of social problems in sport.