What do football and politics have in common?As the World Cup comes to
German teamwork: Silvana Koch-Mehrin believes that "football and politics - it is all about having a good team with an excellent strategy playing a courageous game."
Polish pragmatism: Urszula Krupa noted that "while football's influence on politics might be amusing, politics should not influence football."
English irony: Christopher Heaton-Harris, a referee since 1983, paraphrased Gary Lineker (top scorer at Mexico in 1986) when he said; "In politics there are always two sides to every debate, in football there are always two great teams, but in both, at the end of the day, the Germans always win."
Swedish openness: Carl Schlyter believes that "teams from other parts of the world can interest Europeans in cultures and countries outside the EU. We have much to learn about our fellow humans. Many of them are only allowed into
Dutch fair play: Max van den Berg; "They should have in common: fair play, no game without good and transparent rules, team play and people enjoying it. Integration instead of segregation. Unfortunately both politics and football sometimes move into the opposite direction if commercial or group interests prevail."
Portuguese passion: Maria da Assunção Esteves put the relationship as one of; "competition and passion!"
Czech inscrutability: Daniel Strož - "they have in common two things: gamesomeness and incalculability."
Italian emotion: Salvatore Tatarella put it like this, "football and politics: the competition, the team spirit, the joy and the pain, the emotions they can arise in the crowds."
French noblesse: Anne Laperrouze sees the relation as follows; "Football and politics, in the noble sense of the term, make sense only through collective play."
Spanish sensibility: EP President Josep Borrell; "The link is not obvious but in
Who will win?
Of the 10, 4 have previously won the competition (
Sursa: www.europarl.europa.eu - sport 9.06.2006
