Committees and Expert Panels serve as an opportunity for specialists within certain disciplines regarding the overall running of a football club to discuss and, like Working Groups, report directly to the ECA Executive Board with recommendations. ECA houses two Committees: the Women’s Football Committee (WFC) and the EU Social Dialogue Committee. Additionally, ECA has the following Expert Panels: the Legal Advisory Panel, the Financial Fair Play Panel and the Statutory Affairs Panel.
FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY PANEL
The overall mission of the Financial Fair Play Panel is to work together with UEFA in order to further elaborate, implement and assess the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations. The Financial Fair Play Panel acts as the link between ECA Member Clubs, the ECA Executive Board and UEFA with regards to the clubs' feedback on the relevant UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations, and the regulations governing the procedure of the Club Financial Control Body. Learn more about the Financial Fair Play Panel.
COMMITTEES & EXPERT PANELS
LEGAL ADVISORY PANEL
The Legal Advisory Panel (LAP) has been created to bring together legal experts and arbitration members from ECA Member Clubs with the aim of exchanging knowledge, joining legal forces and sharing expertise in order to become better aware and informed about certain legal problems and decisions. The LAP supports the ECA Representatives involved in various dispute resolution and arbitration bodies and aims at creating best practices for ECA Member Clubs.
With the introduction of the LAP, ECA Legal Services were established. This was created with the objective to offer ECA Member Clubs general legal advice on FIFA/UEFA regulations, as well as on established jurisprudence and procedural rules of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), UEFA and FIFA. Additionally, under the auspices of the LAP, ECA offers mediation services in which a platform is provided to hear disputes of a financial nature between member clubs. As a further legal service to ECA Member Clubs, ECA publishes an annual Legal Bulletin outlining key legal and regulatory decisions taken that directly affect European football clubs.
STATUTORY AFFAIRS PANEL
The Statutory Affairs Panel is in charge of dealing with and analysing membership applications, issues of eligibility of Members and the interpretation and application of the ECA Statutes. The Statutory Affairs Panel reports directly to the ECA Executive Board on its findings and analysis.
WOMEN'S FOOTBALL COMMITTEE
The overall purpose of the Women’s Football Committee is to act as a platform where issues related to women’s football, be it on European or on a worldwide level, can be discussed. The WFC is composed of representatives from ECA Member Clubs with a Women's section, as well as representatives from Women's Football clubs without a direct link to ECA Membership. The WFC Members are appointed by the ECA Executive Board based on a proposal by the WFC Chairman.
EU SOCIAL DIALOGUE COMMITTEE
The EU Social Dialogue is a platform offered by the European Commission for representatives from both employees and employers of a specific industry to discuss and agree on social and labour conditions on a European Union level. The EU Social Dialogue in professional football was created in 2008. The employers are represented by both ECA and EPFL, while employees are represented by FIFPro Division Europe. The ECA Members of the EU Social Dialogue Committee keep the ECA Executive Board informed on all developments in the EU Social Dialogue and/or will take the position of the Executive Board into account when dealing with Social Dialogue matters at EU level.
