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European football under close scrutinyresulting from sport governing bodies” (p.76), of activeprevention against “criminal activities around football,money laundering and trafficking of young players”(p.81), that of “the fight against racism andxenophobia” (p.83) and doping. As Arnaut highlights:“two important features need to be taken into account:the rapid and irreversible trend towardscommercialisation of sport and at the same time thedevelopment of the European Union into a widerpolitical, economic and legal structure…” (p.9).Therefore we can say that the pressure of the politicalsphere on ethical questions will be major: “politicalbodies have both the duty and the legal means to playtheir part in finding the appropriate solutions (p.10)”.The setting up of ethical codes is strongly advised: aEuropean code of corporate governance for clubs,procedures to help establish best practice, and atransparent system for transactions related to playertransfers.Facing political pressures and public demands,sporting authorities, particularly in football, mustintegrate the ethical dimension into their marketingfunction. However, talk is not enough. Authorities arecriticised for favouring talk over action. To act meansto set up real actions, like restoring sport’s educationaland social role through the creation of foundations incharge of integrating underprivileged youths ordisabled people. Moreover, clubs and players shouldbe obliged to develop partnerships with privateorganisations that respect certain moral standards,such as being against child labour and respectinghuman rights.In this return to the ‘grass roots’ of the game,sporting authorities, federations, clubs and players willno longer be able to form a deliberate strategy but willbe forced to adhere to a given logic. An ethicaldimension is required by powerful stakeholders inagreement with the European model of the sport. Inthe event of a contravention, the market of consumers– citizens and the sporting public – will be obliged tosanction any ethical infringement.Stakeholder theory would contribute to thedevelopment and true improvement of Europeanfootball’s governance: its governing bodies, multinationalgroups, the business world, consumers, fans, and more(Rossouw, 1994; Mercier, 2001). In spite of its limitsand unfinished state, this paradigm provides aninteresting basis for a study of corporate managementenvironment, in particular those corporations that arespread out over several geographical locations (Beji-Becheur & Bensebaa, 2004)In 2007, new UEFA president Michel Platini said:“Many sporting people want to defend certain sportingvalues and protect the values that we knew. I’m notagainst business at all, but if business takes footballhostage then we risk losing everything.” This could beconsidered as a symbol of necessary return tofootball’s fundamental ethics.© 2009 International Marketing ReportsBiographiesChantal Rouvrais-Charron is a lecturer at theUniversity of Caen in Normandy, France, and teachesmarketing. Her research interests focus on ethicalattitudes of sporting organisations and their effects onstakeholders.Christophe Durand is a lecturer at the University ofCaen in Normandy, France, and has masters degree insports management. He teaches professional sportseconomics, team sport league regulation and mainevents organisation.RESEARCH PAPER● APRIL 2009 ● International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship241