KISS media help to Europe's national associations

UEFA is giving help to its 53 member national associations in media operations activities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying competition matches.

The project continues the European governing body's engagement to sharing knowledge and expertise across its member associations as part of the innovative and well-established Knowledge & Information Sharing Scenario (KISS) programme whereby UEFA and the associations work together for the overall benefit of European football.

Under the project, a UEFA media officer provides advice and practical support in the preparation phase and on-site during the actual staging of a major match. This assistance is tailor-made to each individual case, with the UEFA media officer working alongside the host association press officer. A flexible and practical approach is adopted to dealing with the challenges of each game, and UEFA intends to offer a knowledge platform which can be used for future matches.

In a first phase, the national association's press officer will be invited to shadow a UEFA media officer at a UEFA Champions League fixture. Afterwards, the association press officer will compile a list of actions to be implemented for their association's own match.

This first phase is considered on a case-by-case basis.

Subsequently, a UEFA media officer, assigned on the basis of availability, languages, experience and knowledge of the teams involved, will be sent to support the association press officer for a major home game. At the end of the match, the press officer and the UEFA media officer will work together on a report noting key actions that the national association should undertake for the next game. At the following home fixture, the UEFA media officer will pay a return visit to assist the FA press officer in the implementation of the new action to be taken.

While the benefits of this assistance are aimed primarily at national associations hosting matches, travelling teams and their national media will also receive invaluable help with pre and post-match operations.

An important aspect of UEFA's mission as football's governing body on this continent is to nurture a spirit of solidarity and equality across the European football family. To this purpose, the KISS programme was launched in 2005, further reinforcing a bond between UEFA and the member associations which has endured over five decades since UEFA was founded in June 1954.