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You thought one Conference on the Future of Europe was enough?
Think again.
UEFA, European football’s governing body, launched on Friday a consultation process dubbed the Convention on the Future of European Football, aimed at reforming governance of the sport in Europe. It’s an undertaking reminiscent of the EU’s long-delayed Conference on the Future of Europe, intended to let average citizens help reform the EU for future generations.
The UEFA convention seems designed to capitalize on the recent attention brought to the sport in April when several elite clubs tried to create a breakaway Super League that would eschew the European sports model of open competition. The idea was abandoned within days after outrage from protesting fans and government officials, who even threatened formal action.
As political support for UEFA swelled amid the backlash, football chiefs see a chance to make changes to the administration of the sport — as well as an opening to armor-plate the open competition model.
According to UEFA, the convention will “bring together representatives of national football associations, leagues, clubs, players, coaches, fans and agents to discuss long-term policy and governance reforms.”
The four concrete targets of the process are: Ensuring financial sustainability and responsibility within European football; strengthening competitiveness, solidarity distributions and player development; establishing more consistent good governance measures domestically and internationally; and progressing the development of women’s football and raising its status across all levels.
Aleksander Čeferin, the president of UEFA, said the consultation process aims to strengthen European football in a moment of crisis.
On the fan-led defeat of the Super League proposal and the cash crunch caused by the coronavirus crisis, Čeferin said: “Now more than ever, people across Europe expect action and solidarity in the interest of all of football in all of Europe, and that is what we will focus on delivering.”
The EU and the Council of Europe will be invited by UEFA to appoint observers to the consultation.
Participation from FIFA, football’s international governing body, will be “welcomed.” But relations between the two may be frosty after a report Thursday in the New York Times that FIFA had secretly been engaged in talks about backing the breakaway Super League.
The first round of the consultation will take place in July, with a second round set for September.
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