Doha: European Club Association (ECA) Chairman Nasser Al Khelaifi yesterday stated that the Association faced huge challenges during the past few months, but the obstacles only made the organisation grow stronger.
“I will not spend much time talking about the 18th of April, and the “not-so-Super League” because I do not like to focus on fabulists and failures. Together, we defended the interests of European football for everyone – for the players, the clubs, the leagues, the national associations, and most of all, the fans,” Al Khelaifi said in his welcoming speech at the 26th ECA General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday.
He was referring to the now-defunct European Super League (ESL) which was announced in April when 12 clubs quit the ECA. ECA last month reintegrated nine clubs into the Association when they abandoned the ESL amid a backlash from governing bodies and supporters - particularly in England.
Six English clubs - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham – were granted membership of ECA again along with AC Milan, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid.
“Over the past few months, European football has faced challenges like never before. People have tried to divide us; they have tried to separate us; they have tried to make us weaker. They have failed. In fact, they have achieved the exact opposite – they brought us together. They have made us stronger,” The ECA’s Qatari Chairman said.
“And if all of us continue to work together with integrity, fully committed to our ideals, fully committed to each other as fellow clubs, and fully committed to the ECA, then European football can only flourish.
“This is my one request I ask of all you…to work together as a one family, and if we do that, then the future of European football could not be brighter,” Al Khelaifi told the members.
“It is almost two years since we last met in-person at a General Assembly before the world changed dramatically with the pandemic. We have all faced many challenges during this time – personally and professionally. However, simply by being together today, representing 247 clubs of Europe, I feel a sense of renewed hope and purpose for our organisation, and for the European football family,” Al Khalaifi said.
“We relied on the resolve and strength of President (Aleksander) Ceferin, who stood up to the midnight coup – and people with short memories should remember that this is exactly what it was. You all should know, that President Ceferin was confident from the start. We spoke early in the morning on the 18th of April, and he said, “we will win”. And we did,” Al Khalaifi thanked the UEFA President.
“And while the three rebel-Clubs waste energies, twist narratives and continue to shout at the sky, the rest of us are moving forward and focusing every energy on building a better future for European football – together as one.”
“And now, looking ahead, to meet the challenges currently facing European football, the ECA needs to evolve with a stronger purpose. We want the ECA to be the heart of European football – a purposeful and powerful stakeholder driving the agenda and development of a united European football family.
“To achieve this, we need to repair and strengthen European football by starting with the five strategic priorities,” Al Khelaifi said.
He said the ECA will focus on five priorities in the coming period.
“We are all facing this new COVID reality today – every single club is feeling the pain; big clubs and small clubs, from all parts of Europe. If we don’t act soon, the damage will be impossible to reverse. ECA is working hand-in-hand with UEFA to put in place a multi-billion Euro debt fund to allow clubs of all tiers to accelerate their recovery from the financial devastation of COVID. In addition an emergency UEFA-ECA fund for future crises is being examined. The ECA has also championed a separate initiative to re-distribute around €50m per year more of solidarity money for the benefit of smaller clubs not participating in European Club Competition…smaller clubs need this extra money,” Al Khalaifi, who is also the Chairman of French giants Paris Saint-Germain, said.
“Our second priority is to make the ECA’s relationships stronger across the entire football family, particularly with UEFA,” he said.
“We need to work with UEFA to better optimise revenues from club competitions. To that end, we have recently negotiated a Letter Of Intent with UEFA to establish a new model for commercialising UEFA Club Competitions,” Al Khelaifi said.
“Finally, a priority that some people think is invisible, but it should be visible in everything we do, the underlying spirit and values of our organisation and European football. The “not-Super League” was defeated through integrity, togetherness, and protecting the interests of every member of our European football community. These values need to define the ECA every single day.”
“These are the strategic priorities that will make European football stronger in the face of all our current challenges,” Al Khelaifi said on the opening day of the General Assembly.
The two-day Assembly brings the leading clubs of Europe back together again after the turbulence of recent months. It is also the first to feature in-person plenary sessions since September 2019, though a small number of clubs will still need to join virtually due to Covid-19 restrictions.
