December 2 – The board of the European Club Association (ECA) is meeting today with FIFA’s plans for a biennial World Cup and the ongoing attempts by the three rebels clubs to create a breakaway European Super League.
Chaired by PSG President and ECA Chairman, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the meeting will be held in Paris. Other board members include Edwin van der Sar of Ajax, Oliver Kahn of Bayern Munich and Dan Friedkin of AS Roma. New members to the board include Miguel Ángel Gil of Club Atlético de Madrid, Daniel Levy of Tottenham Hotspur and Vinai Venkateshem of Arsenal.
The ECA has been sceptical of FIFA’s plan for a biennial World Cup from the start, criticising the lack of consultancy but also aware that for the World Cup to be a viable proposition it will need the players whose wages they pay. That lack of consultancy has been deemed unacceptable across the board of football’s stakeholders.
The European Super League rebels of Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid – currently excluded from the ECA – may have been defeated but they are not completely beaten and prior to today’s meeting the ECA noted the European Parliament’s vote – “by a significant majority” – to back the principles of the European sports model, creating a significant block for breakaway sports competitions, particularly if they were looking for national government support.
The ECA has a renewal of its MoU with UEFA, a key document that the ECA says will help shape the governance and structure in European football, as development of the European game post-2024.
The future of financial fair play, and modernising regulation around club financial management are also key part of that agenda.
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