The socio-cultural model of sports regulation and players' agents: expanding our knowledge of EU sports policy

Abstract

This essay describes how the sociocultural aspect of EU sports policy evolved throughout the ten
year period between 2005 and 2015. The study first provides a fresh viewpoint on the ideologies
of the members of the socio-cultural advocacy coalition that functions within the EU sports policy
subsystem by using the theoretical frameworks of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF).
The coalition actors' empirical policy core beliefs, which represent their concerns about the
integrity of sport and economic welfare that impact its healthy development, are presented and
explained as the fundamental causes of the policy problem, i.e., threats that compromise sport's
unique qualities. In light of this, the document then shows how the coalition members believe that
the problem of players' agents—specifically, issues with agents' actions in European football—is
harmful to the integrity of sport. Consequently, the problem has been the focus of significant
policy action by the coalition actors in an effort to create a different regulatory framework that
would effectively regulate participants' agents. As a result, the article clarifies the changing nature
of the socio-cultural model of sports regulation, which not only supports sport's social function in
Europe but also today tackles issues affecting its well-being and distinct image. The content
analysis of official policy papers and coalition players' remarks forms the basis of the paper's
main research methodology.