In what amounts to a formal EU acknowledgement that UEFA is a sports body it thinks it can do business with, the Commission has adopted a sort of memorandum of understanding, an "Arrangement for Cooperation", with the Nyon-based organisation.

The six-page document, which covers a range of issues and envisages regular and ad hoc meetings between officials of the two sides, is signed by Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, and Michel Platini, UEFA's President.

In a statement that chimes well with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach's doctrine of sporting autonomy, the new document acknowledges that, "Financial stability, transparency and better governance within sport can be pursued through responsible self-regulation."

As such, while the primacy of EU law is underlined repeatedly, the arrangement may also be seen as a step forward in sport's long-running campaign for protection against the blunt application of competition and labour law designed primarily with less singular areas of the productive economy in mind.

On specifics, the document is strongly supportive of UEFA's Financial Fair Play initiative, arguing that it and programmes like it "contribute to the sustainable development and healthy growth of sport in Europe".

UEFA's Financial Fair Play initiative has won support from the European Commission ©AFP/Getty Images



Such endorsement by Brussels may stand UEFA in good stead if implementation of the programme, which seeks to encourage sustainable financial management in professional football clubs in Europe, provokes a showdown between the football body and one or more clubs intent on buying success in a hurry.

It recommends redistribution mechanisms "concerning, for example, audiovisual media revenues and training compensation fees" and underlines the importance of not allowing third-party ownership of the economic rights of players to "threaten the integrity of sporting competition".

It highlights the need to fight "all forms of racism, xenophobia, homophobia and all forms of discrimination including on ground of disability".

It also authorises UEFA to "play a prominent role in seeking appropriate solutions on issues pertaining to players' transfers and agents at European level".

Bach has argued that autonomy for sport "does not entail creating a legislative vacuum or a parallel world, but simply the possibility for sport to regulate its own, sport-specific affairs under its own responsibility and in accordance with general laws".

What is more, the right to autonomy must be earned by achieving the respect of partners: "We earn this respect through responsibility and reliability, by using our autonomy responsibly and acting reliably."

The text of the arrangement, which is due to run until the end of 2017, may be viewed here.