FAs discuss financial fair play progress

UEFA’s commitment to further developing its financial fair play and club licensing activities – which have played a key role in stabilising football clubs’ financial management across Europe – remains a crucial element of its mission to protect and nurture European football.

The 55 UEFA member associations across the continent make an invaluable contribution to this drive, and a recent series of regional workshops, hosted by the FAs of Italy, Moldova and Northern Ireland, brought UEFA, the associations and important stakeholders together for talks on how to take financial fair play and club licensing forward in the coming period.

UEFA recently released its ninth club licensing benchmarking report on European club football, which highlights how UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations have transformed football finances, creating a more stable and sustainable financial position for European top-division clubs.

Participants in Chisinau©UEFA

Discussions at the workshops focussed on possible sporting and financial measures  in various sectors of European football, including youth development, child protection, education and medical care of players, women’s football, and financial club monitoring. 

“Exchanging views and sharing information and best practices is nowadays even more important in view of a rapidly changing sporting and economic environment,” said Aleš Zavrl, UEFA’s head of club licensing.

The Rome workshop group©UEFA

Each of the three hosting national associations showcased the progress that has occurred in their respective countries through club licensing, but also in football in general, thanks in large part to the number of initiatives they have introduced at domestic level. 

A number of participants also presented club licensing-related topics implemented in their own territories.

This included a presentation by the Swiss Football League on change of ownership and other significant changes to clubs’ status, and sessions dedicated to youth development from the Football Federation of Macedonia and the Football Association of Iceland.

Three clubs – FC Internazionale Milano (Italy), FC Sheriff (Moldova) and Coleraine FC (Northern Ireland) spoke at the respective workshops about their own experiences with club licensing and financial fair play rules.

Taking on board different views and opinions of relevant football stakeholders is key in tackling the challenges of European football, and panel discussions at the workshops looked at the challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that club licensing and financial fair play can continue its successful momentum.