Membership

With over 700 clubs members of the ECA Family, ECA has followed a trend of continued growth over the past years demonstrating itself to be a strong representative body on the European football landscape. ECA's Member Clubs in the 2024/25 season are drawn from all 55 UEFA Member Associations.

Membership of ECA is granted per Membership Cycle which consists of four 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 over 700 clubs. 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).

ECA - "Membership for All"

ECA has continued to work on evolving its internal governance in order to develop a more comprehensive and inclusive model where all ECA members can be properly integrated at all levels and can participate in genuine representation and decision-making.

As part of this evolution, at its meeting of 4 September 2024, the ECA Board decided to implement the next phase of the “Membership for All” initiative as a result of which more than 380 clubs, previously part of the ECA Network, have automatically become ECA Associated Members.

As a consequence of having become an ECA Associated Member, former ECA Network clubs will immediately start receiving all the benefits to which ECA Associated Members are entitled. Crucially, all new ECA Associated Members will be able to propose candidates for all ECA bodies, committees and working groups to help steer the direction of European club football as per the ECA Statutes. This includes proposing certain candidates for election as representatives on the ECA Board, thus ensuring a significant role in ECA’s governance and strategic decisions.

Clubs are at the Heart of ECA...

With the amendments to the organisational regulations members are now broken down in the following categories.

• The current 137 ordinary members are the clubs competing regularly in the UEFA Club Competitions. They vote on all matters at a General Assembly and are eligible for all bodies. 
• The current 567 associated members are the clubs occasionally competing in the UEFA Club Competitions. They vote to elect representatives onto the board and other bodies. 

The March 2023 reforms formalised and expanded the involvement of women's clubs:

• The top 40 women's clubs are guaranteed ordinary members.
• 2 board members are directly elected solely by women's clubs. 
• Every ordinary women's club will have an opportunity to work with an ECA Body.

Our Model: 

The ECA Board represents ECA Member Clubs in making decisions:

• Up to 704 members with access to the Board. All ordinary and associated members have a potential route to the Board.
• Up to 37 total Board size. To ensure a board range of voices on the Board, including iindependents and observers. This now includes Associated Member Clubs and Women's Clubs. 
• Up to 25 different countries guaranting a diversity of viewpoints on the Board. 

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 Members, 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 Subdivisions.