Of course the true winners of this year’s World Cup are many: first and foremost the game of football itself; second the South African hosts as they showed great support for all the teams despite their home team Bafana, bafana suffering an early exit; and thirdly we as Europeans can be proud that the top three finishers were all European teams with Spain leading the way!

Even Commission President Barroso got enthusiastic about Europe for a change: “In this championship, the European teams were ambassadors of Europe’s spirit, energy and openness,” he said in a statement emailed to press on Monday morning.