September 15 – Claire Bloomfield, the head of women’s football at the European Club Association (ECA), has announced her departure from the organisation.
Previously a journalist, Bloomfield arrived at the ECA in 2020 and a year later, Bloomfield and ECA launched a women’s football strategy, identifying six target areas to foster a more robust ecosystem and move towards more professionalisation.
They included advancing the economic development, targeting new commercial opportunities, facilitating the creation of new clubs and producing research studies.
Bloomfield also listed reforming the Women’s Champions League in partnership with UEFA and driving the creation of a second European competition – the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup, as some of her achievements.
On social media, she wrote: “Equally transformative has been driving governance reform. For the first time, women’s clubs now hold seats on the ECA Board. Clubs can qualify for membership through the performance of their women’s teams. And women’s medical and performance priorities are firmly embedded across ECA’s work. Together, these steps have placed women’s club football at the very heart of European football governance.”
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