More Europe!

Following a July decision by the ECJ that prohibited FIFA and UEFA from charging citizens to watch semi-finals and finals of major football competitions, European officials have announced their intentions to formally recognize football as a fundamental right for all citizens. The original cases (FIFA v European Commission and UEFA v European Commission) brought to Europe's highest court concerned broadcasting
rights in the UK and Belgium where FIFA and UEFA proposed to switch to a pay system for important games in highly popular events like the Euro Cup and World Cup. Despite the fact that neither country has set foot near a semi-final in over a decade, the ECJ ruled that EU member states are permitted to decide what games have "major importance" to their markets and should thus be available via free broadcasting channels.

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil would not have been affected by such a pay structure, but UEFA and FIFA were hoping to implement something similar for the 2018 cup in Russia. One broadcaster commented, "If we don't have a subscription service for these finals we have to find major advertisers to recover those losses. At this point some of the only options are companies like Benetton and god knows the Russians aren't going to be happy with that."

UEFA and FIFA reactions following the ruling fell between disappointment and visible anguish as money signs quickly faded from executives' eyes. One UEFA spokesperson went so far as to say that the loss of potential revenue impacts funding for things like "supporting humanitarian projects" to which ECJ Vice-President Koen Laenarts responded, "That justification is totally illogical. What sense does it make to buy a few football boots for kids in the Brazilian favelas if there are hundreds of thousands of starving football fans here in Europe?"

Though the newest announcement is not legally binding, talks about including it in an upcoming treaty change at the EU level have already been swirling among the European heads of state. UK Prime Minister David Cameron is speculated to be using it as enticement to stay in the EU after his woefully regretful decision to put UK membership in the EU to referendum in 2017. "If we can show the British people that Europe is useful, that it has Britain's interests in mind, I'm confident the people will see the right decision. The only decision." As they say in Europe, the only things certain in life are death, taxes and free football.