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Identifying Best Practice in Women's Football - FIFA/CIES ...

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#economically self-sufficient, most of them rema<strong>in</strong> dependent on publicfund<strong>in</strong>g.“ 196There is a sizable amount of EU sport support<strong>in</strong>g programmes concern<strong>in</strong>g sport<strong>in</strong>frastructure, health promotion and sport & environment. Clubs should actively look foropportunities to access those budgets and design programs to qualify for public funds. Thiswill help them to stabilise their f<strong>in</strong>ancial situation as well as get more <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> thecommunity. The DOSB (German Olympic Sports Union) provides an EU support brochure asa practical guidel<strong>in</strong>e, present<strong>in</strong>g an overview of the different support programmes and giv<strong>in</strong>gadvice for the implementation of an EU project. 197 Sport England with the support of UKSport is also <strong>in</strong>vest<strong>in</strong>g “national lottery and exchequer fund<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> organisations and projectsthat will grow and susta<strong>in</strong> participation <strong>in</strong> grassroots sport and create opportunities for peopleto excel at their chosen sport”. 198 Clubs should make use of the support and expertise ofnational bodies that can assist <strong>in</strong> access<strong>in</strong>g state aid.Chapter 7: F<strong>in</strong>al ThoughtsFrom the research, it becomes clear European women’s club football is <strong>in</strong> an excit<strong>in</strong>g time ofgrowth and re-evaluation of the status quo. The league structures <strong>in</strong> The Netherlands andEngland are radically th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g outside the box of traditional European football to create anew context specifically for women’s football <strong>in</strong> their countries. The <strong>in</strong>troduction of theUEFA Women’s Champions League provides a new stage for <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g awareness of clubfootball <strong>in</strong> Europe, and <strong>in</strong>creased importance <strong>in</strong> a pan-European identity for women’s teams.It also tries to establish a balance to the trans-Atlantic competition from North America <strong>in</strong>order to reta<strong>in</strong>/attract the best players <strong>in</strong> the world. The goal is clearly “to be the best”. Thestakeholders of European women’s club football, clubs, associations, leagues, and UEFA,have def<strong>in</strong>ed development on a club level as the next big challenge for the sport’s growth.Although this research was able to identify several best practices <strong>in</strong> the different areas of clubmanagement, there is still an overall feel<strong>in</strong>g of disconnect between the standard ofmanagement and the rapid on-field developments. It will be a major challenge for clubs,associations and UEFA to close that gap. The process of professionalisation can only be a########################################################196 European Commision Sport (2009) Public sector support [WWW]. Available from:http://ec.europa.eu/sport/what-we-do/doc41_en.htm [Accessed 10/04/2010].197DOSB (2009) Sportförderung <strong>in</strong> der EU: E<strong>in</strong> praktischer Leitfaden [WWW]. Available from:http://www.dosb.de/de/sportentwicklung/<strong>in</strong>ternationales/europa-eu/ [Accessed 15/03/2010].198 Sport England (2010) [WWW]. Available from: http://www.sportengland.org/about_us.aspx [Accessed01/03/2010].!"#

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