UEFA gala in Monaco Fifty years of the champions' competition ...

The Forum’s
plenary
meeting was
a mix of
presentations
and
discussions.
Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge
was re-elected
Chairman of
the European
Club Forum.
European Club Forum
Election time
THE EUROPEAN CLUB FORUM, THE CONSULTATIVE BODY SET UP IN 2002 TO REINFORCE DIALOGUE BETWEEN UEFA
AND EUROPE’S TOP CLUBS, HAS ELECTED ITS NEW BOARD FOR THE 2004–2006 PERIOD.
The Forum is composed of
102 clubs selected on the basis of their
national association coefficient (as far
as the number of clubs per association is
concerned) and their own club coefficient.
Clubs which have won a minimum of five
UEFA trophies are also entitled to a seat
if they are not selected on the basis of the
coefficients. Among this term’s contingent,
30 percent are newcomers to the
round table.
For its second term, the Forum is
also open to all of the clubs which qualify
for the UEFA Champions League, even
if they do not meet the aforementioned
criteria, as is the case this season of Paris
St-Germain, Werder Bremen, CSKA Moscow
and Fenerbahçe. Such clubs do not,
however, have the right to vote. From now
on, participating clubs must also be in
their country’s top division and hold a
UEFA-endorsed licence. And any club
which misses two plenary meetings of the
Forum will in principle be replaced by
another club from the same association.
One of the main purposes of
the recent plenary meeting held in Nyon
on 9 and 10 September was to elect the
board of the Forum. It was also the first
time that the board had been elected by
the Forum itself. For the Forum’s first
term, the members of the board were
selected on the basis of the coefficients
for practical reasons.
The Forum is divided into four
groups, again on the basis of the coefficients.
The first group – clubs from the six
national associations with the best coefficients
– is entitled to five representatives
on the board; the second group to three,
the third to two, and the fourth to one.
Each group elects its own representatives.
After the Forum meeting, the new
board met to elect its officers, who are:
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Bayern Munich,
re-elected Chairman), Peter Kenyon
(Chelsea FC, First Vice-Chairman); Pedro
Lopez Jimenez (Real Madrid, Vice-
Chairman) and Umberto Gandini (AC Milan,
Vice-Chairman). The members are John
Borg (Birkirkara), Marino Faccioli
(Olympique Lyonnais), Fernando Gomes
(FC Porto), Niels-Christian Holmstrøm
(FC Copenhagen), John McClelland
(Rangers FC), Arie van Eijden (AFC Ajax)
and Damir Vrbanovic (Dinamo Zagreb).
The four members of the Forum
proposed to represent it on the Club
Competitions Committee are Umberto
Gandini, John McClelland, Damir
Vrbanovic and Arie van Eijden. Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge and Fernando Gomes are
already members of the Committee,
having been appointed by the Executive
Committee.
The meeting in Nyon also discussed
the FIFA Club World Championship,
which will be launched in 2005 and
replace the European/South American
Cup. The Forum supported the position
adopted by the previous board and
agreed that the competition should involve
only six clubs (one from each confederation),
that participation should not be
compulsory and that it should be up to
the clubs to negotiate the financial aspects
for themselves with FIFA. The clubs also
supported RSC Anderlecht’s proposal that
PHOTOS: UEFA
yellow cards received in UEFA Champions
League qualifying matches should be cancelled
before the start of the group phase
as from the 2005/06 season. Yellow
cards received in the qualifying rounds of
the UEFA Cup should be given the same
treatment.
Assorted topics
The Forum also discussed financial
questions and took note of a study
undertaken by UEFA on the release of
players for the national teams. In the
group discussions that followed this presentation,
the participants were unanimous
that they should receive compensation
and that it was not up to them to
insure players during major international
tournaments. They also reiterated the
importance of maintaining a balanced
international calendar.
The development of home-grown
players – as presented to the presidents
and general secretaries of UEFA’s member
associations at their conference in Lisbon
at the beginning of July – was another
subject on which the Forum was consulted.
The idea is to set a minimum number of
players in a squad who have to have been
trained by the club itself or by another
club in the same association. Although
the Forum participants recognised the
importance of training and were generally
in favour of clubs being better protected
against the transfer of young players
in whose training they had invested, opinions
were divided. A majority agreed to
the creation of a working group to examine
the proposed measures more closely.
A report was presented to the
Forum on the introduction of the club
licensing system. For the current season,
644 clubs went through the licensing
procedure, 528 successfully.
Chairman Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge concluded the meeting by
stressing the need for dialogue between
UEFA and the clubs, dialogue which, as
underlined by the UEFA Chief Executive,
Lars-Christer Olsson, will be facilitated by
the new consultative body involving
representatives of the leagues, clubs and
UEFA Executive Committee.
12 uefadirect 10.04