What team are you a fan of? Here is the ‘who supports who’ list of the team Juncker

Brussels – What team are you a fan of? That’s the most typical question asked to everybody we meet, no matter whether we are at school, at work or in a pub. Soon or late the question comes for new colleagues and friends, and Eunews decided to ask it to all members of the European Commission, never interrogated on the subject and always silent on ‘personal sport issues’. That’s understandable. In Brussels commissioners are always focused on something else, after all. But in their spare time, for who do the team Juncker’s members cheer on? Here it is, listed one by one, the components of the EU Commission as never seen before, namely in their ‘fan version’. Just one anticipation: the most popular football teams are AS Roma and Real Madrid.

Jean-Claude Juncker: the president of the European Commission is a big Eintracht Braunschweig fan. We talk about a German football team currently playing the second division, winner of 1967 edition of the Bundesliga. Able to beat Juventus FC in Champions League (the Germans were put out the competition in the second leg), Eintracht Braunschweig is amongst the oldest football teams of Germany. They are considered an “historical” squad as they have been the first one to show a sponsor on the jersey, the one of Jägermeister. “I have been a fan of Eintracht Braunschweig since the mid-sixties”, the president told in a public speech held in Hannover last May.

Federica Mogherini. Roman and romanista. That’s enough to summarize the figure of the High Representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy. When it comes to sport, Mogherini is a strong AS Roma fan.

Frans Timmermans: the first vice president of the European Commission cheers on the “giallorossi”, too. Timmemarns’ faith for AS Roma is well known. He publicly stressed his passion more than once and was also able to put the AS Roma affairs on the table during a meeting with the Italian minister of Finance, Pier Carlo Padoan, as the latter revealed. In his office at Berlaymont Timmermans retains a Francesco Totti jersey, clear demonstration of his sport faith. The vice president has also another passion, the one for the Dutch football team of NAC Breda.

Pierre Moscovici: Does the European commissioner for Economic and financial affairs have a favourite club? “Yes, it’s Sochaux-Montbéliard”, commonly referred as Sochaux, he told Eunews. “It is a club was has been for 66 years in Ligue 1 (the French first division, ed), champion for several times and winner of the French Cup. It’s a popolar club backed by the automotive workers”. Moscovici’s tie with Sochaux is not just about football. “I have been a Sochaux MEP for 20 years and local elected from Montbéliard”.

Corina Cretu. The responsible for head of Regional policies has one passion for football and another one for handball. In both cases the team of the heart is Steaua Bucharest. Football fans will be certainly aware that the team from rhe Romanian capital is today the only squad in the country to have raised up to the sky the Champions League (1985-86). The same trophy was won twice by the handball (1967-68, 1976-77).

Andrus Ansip. The European commissioner for the Digital single market is a passionate BC Tartu basketball club supporter. Eunews was told that until he worked in Estonia he went to watch the matches. So, Ansip is a true BC Tartu ‘ultrà’.

Maros Sefcovic. Many different passions characterize the spare time of the vice presidente in charge of Energy Union, as he told Eunews. “In Slovakia, my favourite team is Slovan Bratislava and a colour I prefer is light blue – as the colour of their jerseys. Nowadays the team performs better in ice-hockey than in football. In Italy, I’d like to watch Marek Hamsik in SSC Napoli or your fantastic National volleyball team. Overseas I am a diehard fan of Chicago Bulls basketball team because I was still lucky to see Micheal Jordan playing there”.

Cecilia Malmstrom. The European commissioner responsible for Trade loves football, and she loves in particular Gais (acronym for Gothenburg Athletics & Sports Association), one of the teams from Malmstrom’s hometown. Founded in 1894 (even though the football section was created only in 1897), Gais is one of the oldest club in Sweden. They currently play in the Swedish second division but, as only a true supporter does, Malmstrom doesn’t stop to sustain them.

Margrethe Vestager. She is another football fan, as other female colleagues working in the team Juncker. In her case the attention is for women, so the EU Antitrust chief’s favourite team is the Denmark women’s National football team.

Carlos Moedas. Surprise! The European Commissioner for Research is not that such football maniac you would expect from a Portuguese. Despite Portugal had a long tradition in football, Moedas is not interested in. He prefers much more tennis, of which he is a great fan. He’s nevertheless supporting the Portuguese national team of football. Little curiosity: Moedas’ wife is French, and last UEFA European Championship final was France-Portugal…

Elzbieta Bienkowska. The European commissioner for Industry is not insensible about football. Nevertheless her favourite team is not a Polish one: Bienkowska is in fact a Real Madrid fan.

Marianne Thyssen. The Commissioner for Social affairs’ favourite sport is cycling, both in watched and in practiced version. “She has done pretty much all the colls in Europe”, EU sources explained Eunews. Is there any cyclist in Thyssen’s heart? Yes. Of course all time favourite is the Belgian iconic Eddy Merckx.

Valdis Dombrovskis. The vice presidente of the European Commission in charge of Euro and financial markets is following in particular basketball and ice-hockey, sports where Dombrovskis is a strong supporter of Latvian national teams. Go Latvia go!

Jyrki Katainen. The responsible for Growth and investments has a passion for ice-hockey, and he is an Oulun Kärpät supporter. Thanks to their seven domestic victories, Oulun Kärpät is one of the most titled club in Finland.

Gunther Oettinger. The European commissioner for Budget and human resources is a super fan of VfB Stuttgart, the football team of his hometown.

Julian King. Like most Englishmen, the European commissioner for the Security Union has a passion for football. In his case the team of the heart is Chelsea FC.

Karmenu Vella. Three are the sports loved by the European Commissioner for Environment: waterpolo, boules and football. Vella is Honorary president of 2 local Maltese sports clubs: the Birzebbugia Aquatic Sports Club (waterpolo) and the Zurrieq Bocci Club (boules). And as a ‘fan’, he supports the Maltese National Football Team and his club team is Liverpool FC.

Violeta Bulc. The commissioner in charge for Transport has a weakness for basketball. She is not a fan of any particular squad, but at the same time she’s a great supporter of the Slovenian national team.

Tibor Navracsics. What about the commissioner for Culture and Education? What’s his favourite team? Now we know. The Commissioner’s favourite sport team is Kézilabda Club Veszprém, the handball club of his hometown).

Vera Jourova. National sport of the Czech Republic is ice-hockey, so it is not a surprise at all that European commissioner for Justice be a fan of this sport and be a passionate supporter of the Czech national team.

Christos Stylianides. When we talk about sport, according to the European commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Managemen we talk about football. He loves it, and here he loves two precise colors: the yellow and the blue. These are the colors of Apoel Nicosia, the team of the city where Stylianides was born and grew up.

Neven Mimica. The European commissioner for International cooperation is also a supporter of the football team from his hometown, in this case Hajduk-Split.

Vytenis Andriukaitis. The European commissioner for Health has more sport loves. One of those is football, of course. Here he cheers for a non-Lithuanian team, oppositly to what it could be thought. Andriukaitis is in fact for Real Madrid. Basketball is another Andriukaitis’ passion, and Kauno Žalgiris – one of the most important team in Lithuania – is his beloved team. Furthermore Andriukaitis follows with great interest also the boxe, with a “special focus” on the ‘Kauno Bokso Rinktinė‘ team.

Phil Hogan. Football? Rugby? None of them. The European commissioner for Agriculture’s favourite team is the “Kilkenny” team in the native Irish sport of hurling.