About ECA

ECA Membership

ECA General Assembly (Manchester, March 2010)

With a total of 201 Member Clubs, ECA has followed the trend of continued growth over the last years positioning itself as a strong representative body on the European football landscape.

ECA's 201 Member Clubs in the 2011/12 season are drawn from all 53 UEFA National Associations. There are 103 Ordinary Members and 98 Associated Members.

In principle, and as set out by the ECA Organisational Regulations, an ECA Membership Cycle lasts two years. However, the Executive Board proposed to the General Assembly in February 2011 to extend the current ECA Membership Cycle (2010-12) by one year, until the end of the season 2012/13. The reason for this proposal was to harmonise the ECA Cycle with the UEFA Committees Cycle, which would allow for consistency between the ECA Executive Board Cycle and ECA representation on UEFA Committees. The extension only applies to the current cycle. As from the season 2013/14, the ECA Membership Cycle will again cover 2 years as usual. This proposal was unanimously approved by the General Assembly.

Ordinary Members

The precise number of ECA Ordinary Member Clubs from each member association is established every two years at the end of the UEFA season on the basis of the official UEFA Country Ranking. For the current ECA Membership Cycle (2010-13*), the nomination of Ordinary Members was based on the UEFA Country Ranking 2010.

Associations ranked 1-3: 5 Ordinary Member Clubs
Associations ranked 4-6: 4 Ordinary Member Clubs
Associations ranked 7-15: 3 Ordinary Member Clubs
Associations ranked 16-26: 2 Ordinary Member Clubs
Associations ranked 27-53: 1 Ordinary Member Clubs

It is to be noted that only ordinary members have a voting right in the ECA General Assembly. Furthermore, only club representatives from ECA Ordinary Member Clubs can stand for election for the ECA Executive Board.

* The current ECA Membership Cycle exceptionally lasts until the end of the season 2012/13.

Associated Members

ECA offers Associated Membership to:

Founding members and clubs who have been Ordinary Member during an earlier cycle;
Clubs who have won the UEFA Champions League (or former European Club Champions Cup) since its first season in 1955/56;
Clubs who are qualified for the Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League in a given season (until the end of the cycle only).

Furthermore, clubs who fulfil the sporting, financial, legal and organisational criteria as set out in the ECA Membership Policy can apply for ECA Associated Membership.