EU welcomes the UEFA Convention on the Future of European Football

UEFA brought together the main European football stakeholders in Brussels last week (4-5 December) for the 2024 edition of the UEFA Convention on the Future of European Football.

Hosted at the UEFA Permanent Representation Office to the European Union, the event gathered major European professional football stakeholders, including leagues, clubs, players, fans and agents for two days of discussions on issues facing the game.

The Convention reaffirms one of UEFA’s stated objectives of deeper and broader stakeholder inclusion and dialogue and is a prime example of how UEFA leads collaboratively on the major challenges and opportunities in European football. It also acts as a basis from which the recently launched UEFA stakeholder advisory fora feed into and report back from. As for previous editions of the Convention, UEFA was joined by representatives from the European Club Association (ECA), European Leagues, FIFPRO Europe, Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and the European Football Agents Association (EFAA).

Director responsible for sport at the European Commission, Georg Haeusler, opened the Convention by welcoming UEFA and the stakeholder organisations, expressing the importance of cooperation between European football and the European Union in protecting the European Sport Model.

Topics for discussion, which were agreed in consultation with stakeholders and led by field experts, included:

- Update reports on the recently established UEFA Fans Advisory Forum, UEFA Professional Players Advisory Forum and UEFA Professional Leagues Advisory Forum;

- Match calendar and player workload issues in men’s and women’s football;

- The recent Diarra ruling of the European Court of Justice and its implications on the player transfer market;

- The evolving broadcast market and potential impact for football;

- Club investment trends and multi-club ownership;

- Match security and stewarding.

The Convention set the stage for the annual plenary meeting of the EU Social Dialogue Committee for the Professional Football Sector, which convened immediately afterwards under the auspices of the European Commission. It was agreed that the EU-led platform for structured labour related negotiations between the sector’s key parties – UEFA as chair, the ECA and European Leagues representing employers, and FIFPRO Europe representing employees – would be an appropriate formal platform to further explore a European-dimension to reforms of the international transfer system, as well as players’ occupational health and safety.

The 2024 UEFA Convention and the EU Social Dialogue Committee demonstrated how cooperation and dialogue are the best means to overcoming common challenges and to strengthening the principles of the European Sport Model. By combining broad discussions with focused negotiations, UEFA continues to lead work towards building a sustainable, united future for the game in Europe.