Bigger say for European clubs
The European Club Association (ECA) announced that after securing concessions from FIFA about deciding the international match calendar, top clubs have won two seats on UEFA's executive committee.
"The agreement sets a new benchmark for the relationship between clubs and national associations, providing clubs a greater role in top-level governance and an increased share of funding," said an ECA statement.
UEFA's congress last week announced in principle to allow greater representation by "stakeholders" on the executive.
The ECA said that the presence of club representatives with full voting rights will be decided at the European confederation's congress next year.
"This is a major achievement for ECA and a strong statement of UEFA's commitment to modern and dynamic governance models. Most importantly, it is an unequivocal acknowledgement of clubs' importance to the European game," said an ECA statement.
The deal also gives clubs a tighter grip on the UEFA Club Competitions Committee, which now be "consulted on financial and marketing matters".
UEFA also announced last week that it has increased prize money for the Champions League and Europa League by 25% to more than 1.6-billion euros ($1.7 billion).
The statement adds that European clubs will also get at least 200-million euros ($215 million) in revenue from the 2020 European Championships, 50-million euros more than for 2016.
Clubs will get eight percent of income from broadcast, commercial and other Euro revenues with a minimum of 200-million euros set in the deal.
The figure is higher than the $209-million that FIFA has agreed to give clubs for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The ECA says it has developed a "revolutionary" system to distribute the extra money it will get from the Champions League, Europa League and European Championships more evenly among European clubs.
It says that more money would go to clubs in the Europa League and to clubs in the Champions League qualifying rounds and to clubs in medium and smaller domestic championships.
(File Photo: Gallo Images)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @ECRSportswave