The new ECA Board, elected for the next four-year ECA Cycle 2023-27, will meet for the first time in Warsaw on Thursday.
The biggest-ever ECA General Assembly earlier this month in Berlin, with nearly 500 attendees and the highest ever number of club members in attendance, saw the expanded ECA Board elected, and a constitutive board meeting held to appoint the ECA Chairman and five Vice Chairs.
New Board
The new ECA Board is chaired by Paris Saint-Germain’s Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and will usher in a new era for the association.
There is a swathe of new members for the 2023-27 cycle, with half the members new to the ECA Board, including dedicated women’s club representatives as ECA continues to support the development of women's club football in Europe, striving for equality, diversity and inclusion. To complete the Board, four female members will now be appointed, one per subdivision, in order to continue advancing ECA’s ED&I agenda.
MoU with UEFA, Strategy and Committees
With a new Memorandum of Understanding between UEFA and ECA now agreed through until 2030, the Board will set the direction for its full implementation with ECA’s role as the sole representative body of European clubs at the heart of the strategy.
A major strategy review for ECA Membership Cycle 2023-27 will be kicked off, while stakeholder relationships and membership, and club representation growth will be addressed, amongst other key topics such as agent reforms, women’s competitions and UEFA club competitions revenue distribution.
In Warsaw, the ECA Board will also decide on new appointees to UEFA Committees as well as the ECA Executive Committee, which will sit under the Board and meet regularly for more agile decision-making.
ECA Working Groups
Discussions are also slated to take place on the allocation of the leads for the eight different ECA Working Groups, which are crucial to driving the engagement of clubs on important issues across eight key strategic themes in the European club game including Governance, Finance, Legal and Regulatory, Sustainability, Men’s Football, Women’s Football, Youth Football, and Commercial.
Vice Chair Dariusz Mioduski
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Vice Chair Dariusz Mioduski, Owner and President of Legia Warszawa and host of this first Board meeting of the new cycle, said: “There has been significant and lasting development during the previous cycle, and the 2023-27 cycle will be no different as ECA continues to shape, support and grow European club football.
“There are still many challenges ahead, but ECA is well placed to meet them head on. Our latest governance reforms, a new and enlarged Board, the inclusion of women’s clubs and an ever-growing membership base representing all the 55 national associations of UEFA, means ECA will continue to lead the development of European club football with the best interests of the clubs at heart.
"I am delighted to welcome the new ECA Board to Warsaw for its first major meeting so soon after the General Assembly, which means we are all ready to get to work!”