The second day of ECA Working Group week held in Vienna, Austria saw the ECA Men’s Football Working Group come together to discuss some vital issues at the heart of the European game.
The meeting started with confirmation that Aki Riihilahti (HJK Helsinki), Rui Costa (SL Benfica), Richard Garlick (Arsenal FC) and Miljena Mamić (GNK Dinamo Zagreb) have all been appointed to the Working Group Bureau. This body will serve to increase engagement of participants in the Men’s Football Working Group, offer overall support and content for the Working Group whilst playing a key part in overseeing ECA activities and projects relating to the Working Group.
In addition, a review was made for the Working Group achievements from the 2023/24 season, highlighting key milestones and successes. This included an update on key progress, initiatives, and projects relating to the ECA Men's Football Vision, showcasing advancements in the long-term objectives of the organisation.
Attention also turned to the international match calendar and this was supported with an insightful presentation by Fernando Roitman from CIES focusing on the number of matches in the international match calendar. After the presentation, smaller groups deep dived into specific questions around the current calendar and player workload.
The ECA administration also offered some updates on a host of key areas, including the FIFA Club World Cup, the Collaboration Charter with UEFA, and the ECA Football Panel. Additionally, insights from the IFAB Football & Technical Advisory Panels were provided to Working Group members, alongside strategic developments in ECA Medical & Performance initiatives and the visiting supporter's framework.
Finally, upcoming events such as Club Connect were also highlighted to keep members informed on future engagements. The session was concluded with an update of the ongoing strategic review at ECA in partnership with PWC, including a look towards future organizational developments at the organisation.
The Commercial & Innovation Working Group began with a review of key achievements and milestones from the 2023/24 season, providing a summary of recent successes and laying the groundwork for the work ahead.
A significant focus of the session was the UEFA Club Competitions SA – the joint venture between UEFA and ECA designed to further enhance the commercial development of UEFA’s club competitions. The group discussed the responsibilities of each party in the venture. There was a renewed focus on the more active role clubs and ECA can now have in the future commercial strategy, day-to-day commercial operations and relationship building with the critical central partners of the UEFA club competitions.
The Working Group then turned its attention to the women’s game, with a review of the commercial rights for the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) as ECA aims to broaden the reach, impact and commercial autonomy of women’s football.
In the second half, two guest speakers contributed to the session. EA Sports helped the clubs ideate opportunities for opening up new commercial opportunities within their EA FC game for ECA members, while OpenAI offered perspectives on how ECA could democratise access to ChatGPT Enterprise across ECA Members in ways that could revolutionise internal ways of working for the biggest to the smallest clubs.
The meeting concluded with an update on ECA’s Brand Protection service, which recently celebrated braking the barrier of 100,000 successful cases of anti-counterfeit enforcement online, for our Members and goes from strength to strength whilst catering for all types of clubs. The model for the service was assessed by the Working Group as a template to explore other ways that clubs can collectively act in areas where our Members do not compete and instead can cooperate.
The final session of the day saw the ECA Legal and Regulatory Working Group came together to discuss key regulatory updates.
A significant focus of the meeting was on the recent judgement of Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the Lassana Diarra case in relation to which FIFA initiated a global consultation process in which ECA has been invited to to provide its input on how Article 17 of FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) could evolve.
Working Group Members played a crucial role in refining the initial proposals and ensuring that ECA’s position fully reflects club perspectives.
Several other regulatory updates were also discussed, including the FIFA Clearing House, the FIFA Football Agent Regulations, and the introduction of a FIFA training compensation system for women players. These developments aim to streamline processes and better support clubs across all levels.
UEFA regulatory updates were also presented, with members discussing topics such as disciplinary regulations, the status of multi club ownership models and the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding between FIFPRO and UEFA.
In addition, a number of recent awards rendered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) were presented, enabling attendees to stay informed of legal precedents shaping the football industry.
Reflecting on the session, Laura McCallum general counsel at Aberdeen FC said "We had a really fruitful discussion in relation to the most recent Diarra judgement and I welcome that clubs are able to contribute to the rules and regulations across the football industry because it's clubs who understand how these rules and regulations operate at the coleface and that is really important."
The ECA Working Group Week concludes tomorrow with meetings for Sustainability and Women's Football Working Groups.