Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : Sports were initially organised outside the sphere of influence and control of public authorities. Yet such activities, whether considered from a social or economic point of view, could not be ignored for long, whether by them, as countries, at first, and later, by European institutions, in spite of the absence of any reference to sports in European treaties. Faced with the prospects of repeated intrusions by the community's legal order in its organisation, which could be likely to change its nature, according to the world of sports, the said sports community simultaneously claims the recognition of a sport's « specificity » and « exception ». The purpose is to depart, in full or in part, from community rules. Sport being a particular activity based on its own set of rules and on a specific arganisation is obvious. Yet, do such particularities justify the recognition of an exceptional status, or should common rules be adjusted in its favour?.