It was during a visit to Arsene Wenger’s home village of Duttlenheim, close to the border between France and Germany, that the difference between England and some of the very best European football nations really dawned.

Wenger is from a community of several thousand people and a major hub of the neighborhood is the sports facilities. A large indoor hall, a full-size 3G pitch, a club house and well-maintained grass pitches on land that was separate to dog walkers and park users. It turned out that Wenger’s family, especially his brother Guy and father Alphonse, had been personally instrumental in building up facilities which were funded through a combination of municipal grants, the French Football Federation and the local community.

And every night the facilities were in full use, not just by footballers of all ages, but other local sports clubs. Volleyball, basketball, badminton and table-tennis – activities whose funding here have been squeezed because of the relative difficulty of winning Olympic medals – are also big in continental Europe for their social importance and health benefits. The most striking aspect of all was that you could then drive 15 minutes up the road to the next major community and find comparable facilities.