“The difficulty seems to be making them more inclusive, rather than the fans” A Critical Analysis of UEFA’s regulation on political messages and symbols

Abstract: In football, as well as in most sports, the question about politics being within it are highly debated. Questions related to nationalism, homophobia, racism, and sexism are all seen as permeating the sport. This is simultaneously topics that is facing resistance, especially through anti-racism-, and pro-LGBTQ+ campaigns. Although, the question remains, and football organisations are trying to deal with it in different ways. The complexity regarding it has been researched upon from many different perspectives, such as defining what is being political, to interpretations of symbols and meanings, and what is being allowed within the stadiums. This master thesis focuses on UEFA’s regulations from 2016 regarding political messages that are unfit for the events and builds on the previous research. The method that is used is Carol Bacchi’s What’s the problem represented to be? and the theoretical framework is based on Chantal Mouffe’s theorisation on the political and Nira Yuval-Davis theorisation on nationalism. The findings are that the political is understood closely related to antagonism and nationalism and that UEFA differently apply their regulations depending on the political message’s origin and belonging within UEFA.