Today, an ECA delegation, led by ECA CEO Charlie Marshall, held a meeting with the Co-Chairs of the European Parliament’s Sports Group Tomasz Frankowski and Iban García del Blanco to provide an update on a number of key developments following ECA’s recent 30th General Assembly.
During the meeting, ECA officials outlined plans for the 2023-27 cycle, including our evolving approach to governance and membership which will help ECA achieve a historic number of ECA members and strengthen our consensual and compromise-based approach around decision-making. ECA’s delegation also provided an overview of our refreshed 37-strong board, outlined the increased prominence of women’s football as part of ECA’s central mission, the enhanced focus on ED&I and the expanded support services offering to member clubs across Europe.
ECA also took this opportunity to update the Sports Group Co-Chairs on its renewed Memoranda of Understanding with both UEFA and FIFA until 2030. These renewals confirm ECA’s recognition as the sole club representative body for clubs at European level, as well as ECA’s continued representation in UEFA bodies. These agreements have allowed ECA to represent clubs’ interests in FIFA’s and UEFA’s management of the footballing calendar, as well as securing solidarity payments for clubs not participating in the league phases of UEFA competitions.
ECA and the European Parliament's Sports Group also discussed how best to continue to collaborate to advance the interests of European clubs within the framework of the European model of sport and UEFA as Europe’s governing body for football and to ensure that competitions continue to operate on the basis of meritocracy, openness and solidarity.
Charlie Marshall, ECA CEO, said: “Today’s meeting with Tomasz and Iban was another productive and encouraging discussion about the work ECA and the Sports Group can do to further drive meaningful change across the European football community. We strongly welcome the positive feedback on the development of our Association and we look forward to continuing these conversations over the coming months, and to further strengthening our relationships with key football stakeholders for the benefit of our growing membership base and the wider football ecosystem.”