Membership

Membership is granted per ECA Membership Cycle (4 seasons). At the beginning of every ECA Membership Cycle, all members, except for founding members, must play in the top division at domestic level.

ECA started its activities in 2008 with 137 member clubs and has since grown to 245 Members. Every National Association has a minimum of one ordinary member club.

At the end of each ECA Membership Cycle, upon confirmation of the new ECA Membership Panel by the executive board, each club will be informed by the ECA Administration about their membership status for the upcoming 4-year cycle.

The following rules will be taken into account:

• The membership of ordinary members which are eligible to remain ordinary members in the next cycle shall, in principle, be extended automatically;
• The membership of associated members which are eligible to become ordinary members in the next ECA Cycle shall be changed accordingly, and automatically;
• Ordinary members which are not eligible for ordinary membership in the next ECA Cycle, but which are eligible for associated membership, shall be offered associated membership automatically; and
• The membership of associated members, which are eligible to remain associated embers in the next ECA Cycle, shall, in principle, be extended automatically.

The founding members of ECA were Manchester United FC (ENG), Chelsea FC (ENG), Real Madrid CF (ESP), FC Barcelona (ESP), Juventus (ITA), AC Milan (ITA), Olympique Lyonnais (FRA), FC Bayern München (GER), FC Porto (POR), AFC Ajax (NED), Rangers FC (SCO), RSC Anderlecht (BEL), Olympiacos FC (GRE), FC Kobenhavn (DEN), GNK Dinamo (CRO) and Birkirkara FC (MLT).

ORDINARY MEMBERSHIP

All ordinary members shall be from the top men's divisions of a UEFA member association. The precise number of clubs from each member association is established at the beginning of each ECA Cycle, in accordance with the official UEFA Country Rankings. Learn more about ordinary membership.

ASSOCIATED MEMBERSHIP

ECA Founding Members and clubs in the top men division of a UEFA member association which fulfil the requirements set out in the membership policy, but which do not qualify as ordinary member can apply for membership as an associated member. Membership as an associated member is acquired by acceptance by the ECA Executive Board of the submission lodged by a candidate club. Associated membership is granted per ECA Cycle.  Associated membership can be renewed for successive ECA Cycles upon request to and approval of the ECA Executive Board. Learn more about associated membership.

SUBDIVISIONS

In order to guarantee fair representation is achieved at all levels of ECA Membership and to define the number of clubs per National Association eligible to become ECA Ordinary Member, the ECA Membership Panel is divided into four "subdivisions". Each subdivision comprises 26-30 ordinary member clubs in total, spread in accordance with the UEFA Country Ranking (i.e. subdivision 1 comprises 30 ordinary member clubs coming from National Associations ranked No. 1-6 in the official UEFA Country Ranking). Learn more about sSubdivisions.