Alex Sobel

Alex Sobel

Labour (Co-op) — Leeds Central and Headingley

Speaking in the House of Commons on 8 July 2025

Debate

Football Governance Bill [Lords]

Contribution

I absolutely do. As a Leeds United fan, I know that we definitely cross the spectrum from sport to culture—everybody has probably seen “The Damned United”. In a country such as Spain, football goes across the cultural spectrum, but the ownership of clubs is also with the fans and not with oligarchs—as the former Chelsea owner was—or others. There is a different cultural aspect to it in other European countries. As I was saying, this is classist abuse of young and budding talent that exploits their lives for the benefit of financially high-powered middlemen. Labour’s driving mission is to protect working people against exploitation. Let us include football players in our party’s founding mission and give them the protections they deserve.

More from Alex Sobel

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

For Alex Sobel's full parliamentary record including voting history, expenses and all other contributions, see the Alex Sobel report card.