Managing the Cold War and Building Europe

Vonnard, Philippe

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-42343-8_6

Philippe Vonnard⁴

Part of the book series: Football Research in an Enlarged Europe ((FREE))

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Abstract

As an organisation made up of national associations from both sides of the Iron Curtain, UEFA was particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of international politics. Consequently, in order to achieve one of its supporters’ main goals, that is, to establish UEFA’s authority over European football, UEFA’s leaders responded to these challenges by adopting strategies that negotiated Cold War and solidified the UEFA’s power and legitimacy both inside and outside the football field.

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Notes

1.
In her study of the International Labor Organisation, Sandrine Kott (2011a) showed that relationships built up between the two world wars helped overcome the divisions caused by the Cold War.
2.
For example, on professionalism, youth football, media relations, etc.
3.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the constitutive assembly, 22 June 1954. UEFAA, RM00000749 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
4.
Paul Dietschy highlighted the extent to which Belgium and Switzerland were driving forces behind the internationalisation of football in the first half of the twentieth century (2018). For more about Switzerland in this respect, see Quin and Vonnard (2015, 2019).
5.
In addition to the six executive committee members elected by the congress, the British and the Soviet FAs each had the right to elect a FIFA vice-president, but they could not vote in the election conducted by the congress.
6.
Although the British associations could not take part in the election for the European group’s delegates to FIFA’s executive committee, they could contribute to running UEFA. This was also the case for the USSR.
7.
‘Entente europenne de football, Projet de règlement’, Article 11. GNA, DY 12 Deutscher Turn und Sportbund (DTSB), folder: 2.081 Zusammenarbeit mit der FIFA, nos. 169–171.
8.
Writing to Jules Rimet a few months later, Bauwens explicitly expressed his goal of regaining Germany’s place on FIFA’s executive committee, ‘as has always been the case’. Freely translated from the French. Letter from P. Bauwens to J. Rimet, 10 February 1955. German FA archives (thereafter GFAA), correspondence of P. Bauwens.
9.
Freely translated from the French. Interview with Hans Bangerter conducted on 1 October 2012 in Bolligen.
10.
Minutes of the UEFA executive committee, 22 June 1954. UEFAA, RM00005984 (UEFA congress, 1954–1959).
11.
At the end of the 1950s, the GDR was not officially recognised by several European countries.
12.
It was still divided into American, British, French and Soviet zones and could therefore be considered a political, geographical and sporting meeting point between East and West.
13.
Information provided by Gerhard Aigner during an informal discussion.
14.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA executive committee, 6 and 7 June 1956. UEFAA, RM00005974 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
15.
Minutes of the UEFA congress, 8 June 1956. UEFAA, RM00005986 (founding congress, 1954–ordinary congress, 1955–1957).
16.
Minutes of the UEFA executive committee, 28 February 1957. UEFAA, RM00005974 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
17.
Minutes of the UEFA executive committee, 10 March 1960. UEFAA, RM00000750 (executive committee, 10 March and 8 July 1960).
18.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA executive committee, 3 October 1962. UEFAA, RM00000754 (executive committee, 3 October 1962).
19.
In his review of the Latin Cup, Stéphane Mourlane noted that: ‘The Latin Cup was unable to resist the ambitions of the leading lights of FIFA and UEFA, supported too by the press, particularly in France, and based on the two-pronged logic of geographical expansion and financial visibility’ (2015, p. 588).
20.
Minutes of the FIFA executive committee, 17 September 1955. FIFAA, executive committee (1955–1957).
21.
Minutes of the UEFA congress, 4 June 1958. UEFAA, RM00005986 (founding congress, 1954–ordinary congress, 1955–1957).
22.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA executive committee, 28 October 1956. UEFAA, RM00005984 (UEFA congress, 1954–1959).
23.
‘Il pleut des idées’, France Football, 26 February 1957.
24.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA executive committee, 5 March 1959. UEFAA, RM00005984 (UEFA congress, 1954–1959).
25.
Freely translated from the French. Letter from A. de la Fuente to the Fairs Cup committee, 19 January 1959. UEFAA, RM00000749 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
26.
Minutes of the FIFA executive committee, 24 April 1959. FIFAA, executive committee (1959).
27.
‘La balle au bond. Saison à rallonge’, France Football, 7 June 1960.
28.
‘Le Comité et l’Union’, France Football, 3 November 1959.
29.
This was truly the case in Scandinavia, but football in the Soviet bloc was amateur in name only. Top players in the Soviet bloc were officially ‘employees’, ‘workers’ or ‘servicemen’, but they were free to devote themselves to football full time. What is more, they enjoyed benefits (financial and in-kind) that were otherwise reserved for their country’s leaders and the best players had the privilege of being able to travel abroad (especially to the West).
30.
Letter from de A. de la Fuente to L. Scarambone, 23 March 1959. UEFAA, RM00000749 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
31.
‘Le Comité et l’Union’, France Football, 3 November 1959.
32.
Letter from L. Scarambone to P. Delaunay, 23 November 1959. UEFAA, RM00000749 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
33.
Freely translated from the French. It is noteworthy that the ILLC did not mention UEFA in its statutes, which is curious given UEFA’s recent development. Statutes of the International League Committee, art. 4, 26 October 1959. UEFAA, RM00000749 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
34.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA executive committee, 11 December 1959. Digitised document provided by UEFA’s archivist, Nicolas Bouchet.
35.
Minutes of the FIFA executive committee, 27 October 1959. FIFAA, executive committee (1959).
36.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA congress, 19 August 1960. UEFAA, RM00000751 (executive committee, 1960–1961).
37.
Minutes of the FIFA executive committee, 19 August 1960. FIFAA, executive committee (1960).
38.
‘Activités de l’UER’, EBU Official Bulletin 4, no. 20, July 1953, p. 503.
39.
‘Le tour en Eurovision’, Télé-Magazine, no. 24, 8–24 April 1955.
40.
‘L’Eurovision est-elle un mythe?’ EBU Official Bulletin 5, no. 27, September–October 1954, p. 590.
41.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA congress, 2 March 1955. UEFAA, RM00005984 (UEFA congress, 1954–1959).
42.
Minutes of the UEFA congress, 28–29 June 1957. UEFAA, RM00005984 (UEFA congress, 1954–1959).
43.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA congress, 2 March 1955. UEFAA, RM00005984 (UEFA congress, 1954–1959).
44.
Article 4 (alinea C) notes that the goal was to create, if possible, a consensus between the associations. Statutes of the UEFA [1956], art. 4. UEFAA, RM00005779 (UEFA Statutes, 1954–1976).
45.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA congress, 8 June 1956. UEFAA, RM00005984 (UEFA congress, 1954–1959).
46.
As noted in volume 35 of the EBU’s Official Bulletin. ‘Activités de l’UER’, EBU Official Bulletin, no. 35, January–February 1956.
47.
Freely translated from the French. ‘Les activités de l’UER’, EBU Official Bulletin, no. 35, January–February 1956.
48.
Freely translated from the French. Minutes of the UEFA executive committee, 19 March 1956. UEFAA, RM00005974 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
49.
Freely translated from the French. ‘L’Eurovision à l’auscultation’, EBU Official Bulletin 7, no. 37, May–June 1956, p. 361.
50.
Minutes of the UEFA congress, 4 June 1958. UEFAA, RM00005986 (founding congress, 1954–ordinary congress, 1955–1957).
51.
Estimate provided by L’Equipe but difficult to check. ‘Apothéose de la première Coupe d’Europe des clubs’, L’Équipe, 13 June 1956.
52.
Freely translated from the French. ‘Une fenêtre ouverte sur le monde!’, Télévision Programme Magazine, no. 35, 24–30 June 1956.
53.
Rules of the ECCC [1957–1958 season], UEFAA, RM00000749 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
54.
P. Delaunay, minutes of the UEFA congress of 4 June, n.d. UEFAA, RM00005986 (founding congress, 1954. I–III ordinary congress, 1955–1957), bound document: general assembly minutes 1954–1959.
55.
This committee had met in October 1957, after Barassi first mooted the idea of setting up a television committee, at the UEFA congress in Copenhagen, a few months earlier. However, it did not really begin its work until after the decision taken at the 1958 congress.
56.
‘L’Eurovision et ses problèmes juridiques’, EBU Official Bulletin (B), Issue 55 (1959), pp. 25–28.
57.
Freely translated from the French. Quoted in a paper written by Dimmock in 1968. EBU Official Bulletin (B), Issue 110 (1968), p. 12.
58.
The network had benefited from the growing number of television sets in EBU-affiliated countries (14,200,000 in 1959 compared with 3,200,000 in 1954).
59.
‘La balle au bond. Pas sympathique’, France Football, 5 July 1960.
60.
‘J’ai tiré un France Hongrie des clubs (Reims-Voros Lobogo) et un match explosif et un peu inquiétant: Real Madrid-Partizan de Belgrade’, L’Équipe, 5–6 November 1955. Jacques Ferran stressed these challenges, arguing that Yugoslavia had, in the recent past, always refused to play Spanish teams, especially in basketball.
61.
Minutes of the UEFA emergency committee, 4 November 1955. UEFAA, RM00005974 (executive committee, 1954–1959).
62.
Freely translated from the French. ‘Real Madrid-Partizan conclu le 11 décembre. Le match retour ayant lieu à Belgrade le 8 ou le 15 ou le 25 janvier’, L’Équipe, 11–12 November 1956.
63.
Freely translated from the French. ‘Quand Tito rime avec Franco’, France Football, 27 December 1955.
64.
It would be interesting to know the identity of these individuals and their functions in Franco’s regime.
65.
This point has been already well study for cultural exchanges, see notably: Fleury and Jilek (2009), Romijn et al. (2012), and Mikkonen and Koivunen (2015). See also the interesting study of Gaiduk about the US-USSR relationship in the United Nations (2012).

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University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
Philippe Vonnard

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Vonnard, P. (2020). Managing the Cold War and Building Europe. In: Creating a United Europe of Football . Football Research in an Enlarged Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42343-8_6

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42343-8_6
Published: 22 April 2020
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-42342-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-42343-8
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