European Commission and UEFA strengthen partnership with new cooperation agreement up to 2025

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin and European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas renewed today at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels the EC-UEFA Arrangement for Cooperation first entered into in 2014. This latest institutional accord takes the partnership between the European Commission and UEFA to new levels, focussing on Europe’s priority challenges and providing a roadmap for joint efforts up to 2025.

Structured around key EU priorities such as climate action, equality for all and social inclusion, the agreement marks an intensification of the long-standing collaboration between the European Commission, UEFA and European national football associations towards using European football as a force for positive change across Europe.

The European Commission recognises the huge reach and potential of UEFA’s pan-European events as moments of European unity promoting the European way of life and celebrating its cultural diversity. Joint efforts in this regard will be intensified across relevant UEFA events and competitions, in particular the flagship men’s and women’s Champions League and European Championships including a strategic focus on the men’s EURO 2024 in Germany and Women’s EURO 2025.

At the heart of the agreement is a joint commitment to promoting solidarity between different levels in sport, in particular between professional and grassroots football, the ongoing development of the women’s game, fairness, integrity, financial sustainability, competitive balance, gender equality and good governance. The Commission emphasise UEFA’s central responsibility as the governing body of European football and agrees on the importance of fans and other stakeholders in discussions, including via the UEFA-led Convention on the Future of European Football.

The agreement explicitly reaffirms the resolve of the European Commission and UEFA to protect and strengthen the European Sport Model, based on European values, solidarity between elite and grassroots levels, sporting merit, an open system of promotion and relegation and the protection of the physical and moral integrity of sportsmen and sportswomen. In so doing, the agreement advances the public policy direction set by the European Parliament and EU member states (Council of the EU) in landmark resolutions last year.

Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas said: “Europe’s core principle is solidarity. UEFA and the European Commission will ensure that UEFA’s competitions remain a success story embedded in our European Sport Model. This is a unique partnership: We will keep working within the existing structures and framework in full alignment with European objectives towards serving and bringing together European society and citizens.”

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: “This Arrangement for Cooperation represents a new step in our long-standing cooperation in the field of sport. UEFA is an important partner to promote our initiatives in sport related notably to HealthyLifestyle4All, inclusiveness, mental health, fairness and gender equality. Sport, and particularly football, is an efficient platform to reach our youth and all European citizens, raising awareness on our European values.”

Welcoming the agreement as demonstration of the enduring strength of partnership between the European bodies, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said: “These last years have been an intense period of cooperation between UEFA and our EU partners in facing generational challenges to the European way of life and our European sports model. As this agreement signals, our partnership - based on decades of trust and open relations - is stronger than ever and we have a roadmap to develop ambitiously into the future together for the benefit of all.”