Advantages of the New Model

The proposed structure has many advantages to the current structures within UEFA. The most important of these is the representation of relevant interests at a decision-making level. We must remember first the purpose of the council, to manage professional football at a European level. When we reflect on the stakeholders’ map for the European Football Industry, we discover that all relevant stakeholders directly involved in the production of European Football are represented at the council.

As to UEFA, their interests would be clearly represented with their 5 members. Furthermore they would retain an extra power with the CEO holding the casting vote.²⁵² In this way UEFA could listen directly from the players and clubs and share with them their wider perspective on the game. The last power reserved by UEFA would be that the Executive Committee could retain a veto power in the case that the Council makes a decision which is outside their scope and could be harmful to the greater aspects of football.²⁵³ These two mechanisms provide for a balance of power which keeps UEFA in a privileged position, able to look at the professional game as a whole and as a part of the larger picture of football.²⁵⁴

Some challenges are present for this new Council though they are not insurmountable. It is clear that though representation is almost satisfied for the major stakeholders, the National Associations who would have to vote on this change may be reluctant. The UEFA ExCo will have the role of overseeing the council from a distance because this gives them the independence to look at the council’s decisions from an external and more global view. Another challenge on an administrative level will be the transition of the Professional Football and Marketing Division which may need to reorganise itself with its own finance department.

The strongest advantage of the powers of this Council rests in the regrouping of the major relevant stakeholders in the professional game, clubs, national associations, UEFA, national leagues, FIFA and in an extended way, the EU. In reference to our opening context, we spoke about the heated

251 We note that in February 2002, UEFA hosted the first Club Workshop. We see great value in this and propose to expand these workshops to include exchanges of club officials for learning, seminars regarding merchandising and marketing for example.

252 This is a mechanism which has been used at the Professional Cycling Council and with great success.

253 Also to note is the fact that the representation of the major stakeholders at the PCC has never rendered a decision which has been vetoed by the UCI Management Co mmittee showing that in principle their new model of governance is working well.

254 Geneviève Berti expressed that the clubs recognise the need for an independent body to have a wider and more long-term perspective of the game. In this way, the clubs are involved in the decisions but because they have a more short term view, the veto power is retained by the more independent body.

declarations between the actors of European football across the headlines of sports news. In this new model we bring them together to speak at the same table and to present the relevant interests before decisions are made.

EPILOGUE

Having wandered through the world of European football, sought the counsel of the wise, discovered new things and created our model, we retreat back through the coats from the wardrobe into the world strangely feeling that almost no time has passed and we are returning to the same European football reality. But we have a strong feeling that we have discovered a treasure and must share it with the

“football family”. Integration of the relevant stakeholders, a professional roof to cover and join the two pillars of European football and a balance on the scales of power and interests are the messages which we hope to pass through this paper. Again, we do not claim to have found a panacea to cure all football’s ailings because no model, no matter how well designed, will always satisfy all interests.

However, we do believe that the unresolved dissonances of which we spoke in our prologue will have a better chance to find their harmonic accord. Most importantly, we hope to open the dialogue between the family members, who although on the same stage speak in rhetorical soliloquy, so that at the curtain’s final whistle their audience rise in ovation and cry “Encore! Encore of football!” filling the cathedrals of the beautiful game.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

The authors are all students in the International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport organized by the Centre International d’Etude du Sport in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. They represent the third promotion of the Master who has been created in 2000 at the initiative of FIFA. The course which started in September 2002 and ended in July 2003 has taken them to three universities in three different countries: De Montfort University (Leicester. England), SDA Bocconi (Milan, Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel (Neuchâtel, Switzerland).The authors wrote the paper between May and June 2003 as part of their Masters degree. A profile and contact details of the authors can be found below.

PIERRE DUCREY

After obtaining a Masters degree in international relations at the Graduate Institute of International Relations in Geneva, Pierre worked in the sports media industry before deciding to take the CIES-FIFA master program. After the program, he spent a few months working for the Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General on Sport for Development and Peace and currently works as an intern in the Sports Department of the International Olympic Committee.

Email: Pierre.ducrey@bluemail.ch

CARLOS EDUARDO CARUSO FERREIRA

Carlos Eduardo is an MBA with a business and management background. In 2002, as a first step towards a long-planned career specialisation in the sports industry, he decided to take a leave of absence from his job at A.T. Kearney – an an international management consulting firm - to join the CIES-FIFA Master program. He is currently working in a project commissioned by FIFA and linked to Dr. João Havelange, former FIFA President.

Email: cadu.ferreira@globo.com

GABRIEL HUERTA

After spending ten years working in the corporate world, Gabriel decided to follow his passion for sports and enrol in the CIES-FIFA Master. Gabriel also holds an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird in the U.S. After completing the master, Gabriel plans to pursue a career in the sports industry with an international organization.

Email: gabrielhuerta@global.t-bird.edu

KEVIN TALLEC MARSTON

Actively involved in sports, as a coach, player, administrator, volunteer and fan coupled with a passion for cultures, languages and international experiences, Kevin was naturally drawn to the International Master. He hopes to serve the sports movement and apply his multi-disciplinary background in the most effective way.

Email: ktmarston@marstonlaw.com

REFERENCES