ECA Board Concludes 2024 With Focus On Strategic Priorities For 2025 And Beyond

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula

Budapest: European Club Association (ECA) concluded its final Board Meeting of the year in Budapest, following its inaugural Board meeting for its charitable organisation, the ECA Foundation.

The meetings brought together ECA Board Members, key stakeholders, and representatives from partner organisations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose Managing Director Joe Cerrell joined the ECA Foundation as a Board Member.

Discussions at both meetings reflected on a historic year for ECA. As the sole representative body of football clubs in Europe, it is the voice for 728 members across Europe – an increase of 66% since the end of 2023 – advocating on issues in football in accordance with its new strategic priorities and supporting the communities of its member clubs.

Strengthening European football

Throughout 2024, ECA's focus has been football first, ensuring all its members can be a part of, and benefit from, the evolving landscape of the game.

The Board used the opportunity to reflect on key achievements in 2024:
. Joint Venture with UEFA: the formal launch of the Joint Venture, responsible for all business matters relating to the UEFA Club Competitions (UCC), giving ECA Members a true partnership with UEFA in shaping the commercial future of the competitions.
. Club competition formats: ECA has played a pivotal role with UEFA in driving the reform of UEFA Men's (2024-27) and Women's (2025-30) Club Competitions' formats, which has led to greater club, fan and community engagement.
. Championing solidarity: advocating for a better solidarity system, including an increase in UEFA's solidarity payments to non-participating clubs from 4% to 7% of projected revenue (€4.4bn), to an approx. €308 million annually. With an additional 3% of revenues for clubs eliminated in qualifying rounds, and €25m per annum invested in the women's and youth competitions, over 10% of UCC gross revenues is now ring-fenced for clubs not competing in the main men's club competitions.
. Fan experience: agreed capped ticket prices for visiting fans in UCCs with UEFA.
. Youth & Women's football: launch of the ECA research on pathways for girls from academies to first-team football, in addition to landmark studies on the early migration of youth players.
. Member opportunities: launch of the brand new ECA Executive Leadership Programme in collaboration with Harvard Business School.

FIFA Club World Cup
Having recently met with its member participating clubs in Poissy, France, ECA is continuing in its joint work with FIFA on preparations for FIFA Club World Cup next summer. ECA and its clubs will be attending the upcoming draw in Miami on December 5 and will continue to focus on the delivering long-term success to the new tournament, including on all sporting, financial and commercial aspects.

Key appointments
Several key appointments were made by the Board to strengthen ECA's representation of its clubs in the European and global football landscape.

These include the appointments of ECA Board Members Pablo Longoria, from Olympique de Marseille (France) and Fernando Carro, from Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany)to FIFA's Player Welfare Task Force, reflecting ECA's dedication to protecting player well-being.

The Board also approved the appointment of ECA Executive Committee Member Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, from Club Atlético de Madrid (Spain) as Lead of the new ECA Fans Working Group. This workstream underlines ECA's commitment to fostering stronger club-supporter relationships.

Additionally:
. Ferran Soriano from Manchester City FC (England) has been appointed as ECA Executive Committee (ExCo) Member.
. Ingrid Vanherle from R. Standard de Liège (Belgium) has been appointed as Observer on the ECA Board, representing Women's Member Clubs.
. Trine Hopp from FC Nordsjælland (Denmark) will serve as ED & I Sub-Division Representative on the ECA Board, representing Subdivision 3.
. Giorgio Chiellini from Juventus FC (Italy), Andre Villas Boas from FC Porto (Portugal), and Niclas Carlnén from Malmö FF (Sweden) have been nominated by the ECA Board as representatives in the UEFA Club Competitions Committee, subject to UEFA ExCoapproval.

Inaugural ECA Foundation Board meeting
The inaugural meeting of ECA Foundation's Board marked a significant step towards using club football's power for positive social change.

The Board welcomed Joe Cerrellfrom the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to a seat on the ECA Foundation Board. Cerrell has a vast wealth of knowledge and experience which he will bring to the newly formed ECA charitable organisation.

Participants discussed the importance of using ECA's collective voice and the power of football to contribute towards transforming lives. New initiatives of the Foundation will include addressing the humanitarian crisis resulting from recent flooding in Eastern and Southern Europe and strengthening its

Partnership with UNHCR. The meeting also celebrated the successful conclusion of the Ukrainian Relief Fund and the substantial contribution to relief efforts following the Türkiye-Syria earthquakes and reaffirmed its commitment to wildfire relief in Greece.

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