“The European Union of Clubs brings fresh air to governance in European football”

MADRID, 24 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, celebrated the launch this Monday of the new European Union of Clubs (UEC), an association that he believes will bring “fresh air for governance” in a European football that is deconstructing and to which neither the European Leagues nor the European Club Association (ECA) provide solutions in this regard.

Brussels was the setting to host the presentation of this new body, which aims to give a voice to 92 percent of professional soccer clubs, mainly those that “do not belong to the elite at an institutional level,” according to a statement.

“The Union of European Clubs fills a huge gap and will defend the interests of the clubs that form the foundation of European football. It is crucial that small and medium-sized clubs gain a voice. In recent decades, football has become increasingly in an elite game, this trend must be reversed or it will suffer irreparable damage,” said UEC founder Dennis Gudasic, CEO of Croatian Lokomotive.

The UEC was presented in a hybrid event with a physical and ‘online’ presence of 103 professional clubs of all sizes from all over the continent and officials from EU institutions were also present.

“By giving a voice to the true heart of European football, the UEC aims to create a fairer environment and more sustainable football ecosystem. The UEC has many common goals with UEFA as the central governing body, but also with other stakeholders such as the Leagues Unions, which brings together 40 professional soccer leagues and represents more than 1,000 clubs in 34 countries across Europe,” the association remarked.

Javier Tebas attended this presentation, which he described as “a very important day for European football” and which he thanked “for the effort to create a new association of clubs in Europe”. In addition, he made it clear that he has no intention of commanding it after announcing that on June 30 his organization will leave the European Leagues. “I will not preside nor do I plan to preside over this association, I want to help European football from LaLiga, but this association represents the values ​​and how European football has to be in the future”, he remarked in his closing speech.

The leader recalled his experience in the world of football and has been “a club for many years.” “I have also represented small and medium-sized teams, which makes me have an important vision of football. I want the football ecosystem in Europe to be as economically sustainable as possible,” he said.

Thebes, who remarked that “most clubs do not play European competition or play it occasionally”, insisted that football in the Old Continent “is gradually breaking down”. “The Super League wanted to do it quickly, with a model at full speed, and the ECA, little by little, and if these clubs don’t react, soccer will end up in our local leagues totally unstructured,” he pointed out.

“WE ARE NOT ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM CORRECTLY”

The president of LaLiga has been concerned “for years that decisions are being made at the European level that affect national competitions and those who do not compete in Europe or do so occasionally”, and warned that they have not wanted to “intervene with the necessary force”. , thinking that perhaps it is not his “mission”. “But we have been allowing European football to gradually break down and those who compete in Europe receive so much money that they have a very important economic difference in their leagues,” he explained.

Thebes regretted that in European football “decisions” are made without taking into account these more modest clubs and that this is “one of the reasons” why LaLiga leaves the European Leagues because “it is not the way” to solve it.

“We are not attacking the problem correctly and that is why this association is very important because trying to structure European football is not the mission of the European Leagues, but neither is it of the ECA. It is not true that the ECA represents the European clubs, it represents the elite clubs,” Tebas continued.

This stressed that “neither the ECA nor the European Leagues are adequate and are not prepared to resolve these situations”, a role that should be for the UEC. “This new association brings fresh air in the governance of European football because it brings clubs that occasionally participate in European competition or not or does, and those that regularly participate also have a place. This association can help a lot with the problem of governance, and if we solve it, we will solve many more,” he stressed.

“Personally I will try to give the maximum support to this organization, but from LaLiga we do not intend to intervene or command, we only see that it is necessary,” said Tebas, who did not forget that “the path must be made within UEFA”, although this body ” You will also have to change a lot of governance things.”