Agreement with UEFA is major breakthrough, says ECA chair Rummenigge

By Andrew Warshaw

February 28 – Europe’s leading clubs today struck a landmark agreement with UEFA giving them a bigger share of the European Championship pot – but warned their relationship with FIFA was still deadlocked.

Announcing a “major breakthrough” at the European Club Association (ECA) general assembly in Warsaw, ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (pictured) said the accord with UEFA would run until 2018, effectively putting an end to any idea of a breakaway league to rival the Champions League.

“Negotiations [with UEFA] have not always proved easy, but were always conducted in a fair and respectful manner,” Rummenigge said in a statement before adding a note of caution.

“Unfortunately, discussions with the FIFA President [Sepp Blatter] have failed to lead to a satisfactory outcome which takes account of the clubs’ demands.”

The ECA, which comprises almost 200 clubs, was formed in 2008 in place of the elitist G14 body which only represented the continent’s most powerful clubs.

The new format was intended to give all clubs, big and small, a wider voice but negotiations with FIFA, both over the international match calendar and, more recently, Blatter’s reform programme, are locked in stalemate.

FIFA has invited world football stakeholders to a meeting on March 5 in Zurich to discuss the calendar from 2015 onwards.

But both Rummenigge and ECA general secretary Michele Centenaro have declined the invitation.

Under the new agreement with UEFA, which significantly reduces club-versus-country issues between the two parties, European clubs will share a “substantially increased” sum over and above the €55 million (£47 million/$74 million) previously agreed for the 2012 European Championships, distributed on a daily rate covering the time players are involved in the finals being hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

Thereafter, said an ECA statement, there will be “a further increase” for the Euro 2016 finals in France, the precise amounts for both tournaments to be announced at the UEFA Congress in March in Istanbul.

On the question of insurance, the ECA revealed that a fresh policy had been agreed starting in June, “covering the injury risk of players while on international team duty”.

“This insurance is valid for all players registered with a European club, irrespective of their nationality, and for all matches mentioned in the international calendar, including both official and friendly matches,” the statement added.

As far as the calendar is concerned, the ECA, which originally favoured six double-header dates for a two-year tournament qualification cycle, has agreed to what it describes as a “compromise solution” to increase this to nine starting in 2015 – provided there are no single dates for friendlies, such as the one tomorrow and the traditional pre-season August fixture which it wants scrapped.

Additional points include no more than one international tournament per player per year; final tournaments of all confederations to end mid-July; and the Africa Cup of Nations starting as soon as possible in January.

Commenting further on the new deal, Rummenigge added: “The agreement with UEFA is a major breakthrough for European club football.

“With this agreement, UEFA clearly recognises the importance of clubs and the significant contribution they make to the success of national team football.

“This is once more a proof that in the European football family solutions can be found in a cooperative and fair way.”

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