UEFA women's football strategy 2024–30 approved

The UEFA Executive Committee today met in Prague, Czechia, and took a series of decisions as follows.

UEFA women's football strategy 2024–30

The UEFA Executive Committee approved a new UEFA women's football strategy for the period 2024 to 2030. Full details will be published in the upcoming weeks when it will be officially launched.

Solidarity distribution for non-participating clubs for 2024–27 cycle

Last year, the UEFA Executive Committee approved a significant increase in the distribution of solidarity for clubs not participating in UEFA's men's club competitions for the 2024–27 cycle, under which the share allocated to non-participating clubs will rise from 4% to 7% of the projected revenue threshold of €4.4bn. This translates to €308 million – an increase of nearly 80% compared to the previous cycle.

At today's meeting, the Executive Committee approved the criteria for the distribution of the new amounts, developed in close collaboration with the European Club Association and European Leagues. A cap to the distribution to the top five federations (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) has been confirmed, as they will receive €10m each. The funds available to the remaining 50 associations will therefore increase from the current €135m to a total of €258m. Seventy per cent of these amounts will be distributed based on their position in the UEFA access list, while 30% will be proportional to the amounts received by the top-earning club of each association, an innovative concept expressly targeting competitive balance in domestic leagues.

The core principles are as follows:

• The funds are reserved for top division clubs not competing in the league phases of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League.

• Such funds are meant to support competitive balance across Europe's top division leagues, where some clubs benefit from additional revenue streams due to European competition participation.

• A portion of the funds may be cascaded to second division clubs, with the agreement of top division clubs.

• The funds shall improve or strengthen clubs' structures and governance standards, thereby enhancing the healthy development of European club football.

• To be eligible they shall therefore have to fulfil certain UEFA club licensing criteria, with youth training criteria still a defining element.

Full details of the new solidarity distribution scheme will be communicated via circular letter in the coming weeks.

2027 UEFA Champions League final

As the municipality of Milan could not guarantee that the San Siro stadium and its surroundings would not be affected by refurbishment works in the period of the 2027 UEFA Champions League final, it was decided not to assign the final to Milan and to re-open the bidding process to appoint a suitable venue, with a decision expected in May/June 2025.

New confederations support programme "UEFA Together"

The UEFA Executive Committee approved a new support programme for sister confederations to replace the UEFA Assist programme which ran between 2017 and June 2023 and under which a total of 409 projects were implemented, benefiting a total of 120 countries across the world.

UEFA Together aims to be an enhanced, more focused, and collaborative approach to football development beyond Europe and its key features are based on a three-pillar system:

• Shared goal: Three-year development projects, defined by UEFA and each confederation, focusing on one or two key areas of support.

• Youth development tournaments: Enhanced support for development tournaments within and outside of Europe.

• Knowledge exchange: UEFA events will be used as platforms for networking, knowledge-sharing and forming partnerships.

UEFA member associations can continue to apply for and receive support for development projects supporting associations outside of Europe.

The key changes focus on a reduced number of projects, with a greater duration, thus increasing legacy.

The new programme aims at creating more opportunities for talented young players and will no longer finance infrastructure projects.

UEFA Under-19 Futsal EURO 2025

Chișinău in Moldova was appointed as host for the 2025 UEFA European Under-19 Futsal Championship final tournament.

Football in Schools event

Earlier in the day, a successful grassroots event was held in the Czech capital as part of the UEFA Football in Schools programme. Boys and girls from local schools enjoyed a range of football activities including a match alongside football legends including Simona Necidová, Luís Figo, Éric Abidal, Aljoša Asanović, Vladimír Šmicer, Patrik Berger, Karel Poborský and Jan Koller.

Launched in 2020, UEFA's Football in Schools programme has been a huge success with more than three million children and 80,000 schools benefitting so far, the related funding to be used for staff and capacity building, equipment, education of teachers and coaches, school to club links and other resources.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee is scheduled for 16 December in Lausanne, ahead of the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 final tournament draw.