Barcelona hosts ECA 12th General Assembly
Baku, March 5 (AZERTAC). The European Club Association (ECA) held its 12th General Assembly in Barcelona on the 3rd and 4th of March 2014. Some 151 Member Clubs from 52 different national associations attended the two-day event. Azerbaijan was presented by “Neftchi”, “Azal”, “Baku”, and “Khazar-Lankaran” clubs.
Further to a study published by the European Commission in 2012, the current Transfer System has recently become subject of intense discussions in the world of football. It has been noted that the focus of these discussions is often led by individual opinions and personal experiences with little focus on detailed financial and data-based analysis. It is for this reason that ECA felt the need to commission a study highlighting the reality governing the transfer system. The aim of this study, based on real figures from official sources and focussing on a European perspective, is to understand how the current transfer system operates in order to provide a more credible and reliable basis for discussion. The Study offers an in-depth overview of all the incoming and outgoing transfer transactions involving European clubs over a two-year period. The ECA Executive Board mandated PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and LIUC University to carry out this work. Further to the resignation of Zoran Mamic (now head coach at GNK Dinamo), Celtic FC CEO Peter Lawwell was elected to join the ECA Executive Board for the remaining period of the running membership cycle, which lasts until the end of the 2014/15 season.
Another discussion focused on UEFA Youth League. The competition, which was created by UEFA in close collaboration with ECA, is reserved to the youth teams of the 32 UEFA Champions League participants and initially runs for a two-year trial period. ECA Members were updated on key statistics from the UEFA Youth League Group Stage and were informed about the outcome of a survey conducted among the participating clubs. Overall, clubs participating in the first edition of the UEFA Youth League are satisfied with the competition and rate the experience for their youth players positively.
ECA Members were informed that FIFA recently confirmed that for the World Cup 2014 in Brazil a similar distribution model will apply for the club benefits as the one used for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In 2010, over 250 clubs from Europe received a share of the $40m made available to clubs for their contribution to the successful staging of the tournament. This year, for the World Cup in Brazil, FIFA makes available $70m. The ECA Chairman reminded members that 75% of players participating in the World Cup 2010 in South Africa were under contract with European clubs.
Furthermore, ECA Member Clubs were presented with an update on the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar: Members were informed that ECA was now officially invited by FIFA to participate in the Qatar 2022 Task Force, which is set to discuss a possible switch of the world cup from summer to winter. ECA accepted the invitation for the two meetings tentatively scheduled for September and November 2014.
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