An although timid response to a serious problem

Globalization has won the football fields a decade with dramatic consequences for some countries, the round ball viviers, literally looted of their wealth by European clubs. In this world, it appeared that all 23 players of Côte d'Ivoire and Togo are moving abroad. "Le Figaro" was that 21 Brazilians and 20 Argentines selected for the Germany World Cup played in a European club.

The origin of this "opening" of the borders figure the decision of the Court of justice of the European communities of 15 December 1995, so-called "Bosman ruling" (name of the Belgian player who filed the action), which upset the professional sports landscape in Europe. That day, Luxembourg judges put an end to the international football Federation (Fifa) regulations prohibiting clubs employ more than three foreign players per club. They have opened the door to the free movement of these professionals and waltz of men, million and passports.

"In a spirit of economic liberalism and by denying the specificity of sport, the Court came to violate the autonomy of the sports standards and obeyed a purely economic, or market the sport completely ignoring the social, ethical, educational, cultural dimensions or design public health" wrote Pascal Boniface, Director of the Institute of international and strategic relations (Iris) in his book, "Football & globalization". Reduced to a purely economic dimension, sport becomes a "matter of rich."

The Bosman ruling will see its scope enlarged by the Malaja judgment, the name of a Polish basketball player who was denied by the French Federation of basketball to wear the Jersey of the team of Strasbourg on the grounds that the quota of foreigners in the European Union was reached. On January 3, 2000, Nancy appeal court set aside the judgment of the administrative tribunal against the player to wear the colours of the club, and, on 30 December 2002, the Council of State confirmed the decision: the signatories of an agreement of cooperation or association with the EU (20) were applying the rules of the Bosman ruling, i.e. the waiver of nationality quotas.

Level semi-mafia

This new case certainly has the advantage of "focus on the rights of the individual athlete on the federations", but it has significantly accelerated the "deterritorialization" of the sport, said Pascal Boniface. Result, the clubs are racing into the breach and supporters a little lose their soul. In the last final of the Champion's League, on 17 may at the France Stadium, Barcelona, who won the title of European Champion, aligned only four Spanish players against just two English for Arsenal, the coaches being foreign to the two countries.

More serious: the opening of borders has introduced a real traffic. African countries (Nigeria, Liberia, Burkina, Senegal...), the Brazil and the countries of the East, is now "big battalions of these migrants, identified by slave traders or more or less occult unskilled sectors", which move from one club to another, from one country to another, providing teams of "a little careful and fluid workforce on working conditions".two professors, Jean-Marie Brohm and Marc Perelman write in their book "Football, an emotional plague".

In its edition of June 11, "The newspaper of the Sunday" tells the story of this young nineteen-year-old Cameroonian, who has seen land one day at his home in Yaoundé, a certain "Mr. D", "applied... with false documents to a club in Turin." He made me promise a contract, but it required that I go to France to form me. "The young African had made the journey with an expenditure of 1.400 euros, has galéré Club in club, until the so-called recruiter does evaporate in nature with his passport.

Trafficking are supervised by officials of players (149 in France in 2004) host a commission legally be capped at 10, but which in reality are often at the centre of many malpractices, covering the bottom of table, pay hidden as shown recently "Affairs" of the Olympique de Marseille leading to the shareholder of the club conditional sentence, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, and the imprisonment of former coach Rolland Courbis. The real face of football is at this level semi-mafioso leaving commissions collected by French agents EUR 30 million and 50 million in England, highlight Jean-Marie Brohm and Marc Perelman. In view of this, Fifa decided during its 56th Congress on 5 June in Munich "create" and "implement" a "coordinated transfer system", computer, at the latest from IAD - its 2008-2009. An although timid response to a serious problem.