UEFA ADMINISTRATION REPORT 2006/07 · The 2006/07 European football season was another busy and productive year for UEFA, both on and off the pitch. Football competitions remain at

UEFA ADMINISTRATION REPORT2006/07

WE CARE ABOUT FOOTBALL

General Secretary

Marketing & Media Rights

Professional Football

Football Development

Communications & Public Affairs

National Associations

Legal Affairs & Club Licensing

Services

UEFA Media Technologies SA

UEFA Marketing & Media Management

Euro 2008 SA

Finances

General Secretary

Marketing & Media Rights



Communications & Public Affairs


Legal Affairs & Club Licensing

Services


UEFA Marketing & Media Management

Euro 2008 SA

Finances

Contents

04 05

06 13

14 23

24 29

30 35

36 41

42 49

50 57

58 63

64 69

70 77

78 91

The 2006/07 European football season wasanother busy and productive year for UEFA, both on and off the pitch. Football competitionsremain at the heart of UEFA’s work, but the roleof the organisation has changed in recent yearsto encompass a wider range of activities.

Relationships with political authorities, and theEuropean Union in particular, are now veryimportant, as we seek to establish a better legalbasis for the regulation and development of oursport in Europe. A landmark was reached thisyear with the inclusion of a reference to thespecificity of sport in the new European UnionReform Treaty. This is the first time that sport,and its special characteristics, have beenreferred to in European legislation. We lookforward to the adoption of the new treaty byEuropean countries during 2008 and to workingwith the political authorities to define moreclearly the special characteristics of sport whichneed to be recognised in sports regulation.

With the arrival of our new president, MichelPlatini, in January 2007, the UEFA Statutes were revised and approved at an ExtraordinaryCongress in Zurich at the end of May. Since then,a new committee structure has been put in place,with committees now reporting directly to theExecutive Committee. The theme has been toinvolve national football associations more in thework of UEFA, as it is the national associationswho are primarily responsible for the developmentof the sport across Europe.

However, in the world of professional football,the main actors are the clubs, the leagues andprofessional players. A Professional FootballStrategy Council has therefore also been set up,with the participation of the UEFA vice-presidents,to discuss issues of importance for theprofessional game. Already there are encouragingsigns that these new organisational structures are producing results.

General Secretary David Taylor

From a competition perspective, the 2006/07season was another very busy season for UEFA.Successful club competition finals were stagedin Athens and Glasgow. The first part of the yearalso saw the conclusion of the UEFA Futsal andWomen’s Cup competitions. Then it was the turnof the UEFA European Under-21 Championshipfinal round to take centre stage, and we allwitnessed a wonderful tournament in theNetherlands. During the season, the annualyouth and women’s competitions were also allsuccessfully staged, and my thanks go to allthose member associations who hosted our final rounds last year.

Finally, 2006/07 saw a rapid increase in our work as the build-up to UEFA EURO 2008™gathered pace. The last year before the staging of a tournament of this scale requires a hugeamount of planning and coordination. We can feel confident that the final round has been wellprepared, and we look forward to some top-classEuropean international football in June 2008.

The main activities of each UEFA division aredescribed in more detail in the chapters that follow.

We thank you for your support.

David TaylorUEFA General Secretary

“The 2006/07 season has seen a number of firsts for thedivision and UEFA, with a series of strategic initiativescoming to fruition, including the partial centralisation of theUEFA Cup. Direct negotiations with certain ex-Europeanbroadcasters for UEFA EURO 2008™, combined with anextended agency deal, have resulted in revenue increasesof 114% outside Europe compared with EURO 2004.”

UEFA Marketing and Media Rights Philippe Le Floc’h

08 09

Marketing and Media Rights

Introduction

The division has overseen the first season of anew UEFA Champions League commercial cycle,with an enhanced ex-Europe broadcast platformhelping to reinforce the global reach of thecompetition. The UEFA Champions Leaguesponsors have taken their leveraging of thecompetition to new levels. One prime examplewas the amazing response from fans across fiveAsian countries to the first Trophy Tour.

Strategic reviews of the broadcast and marketingconcepts for the next UEFA Champions Leagueand UEFA Cup sales cycle, 2009-12, have beenongoing throughout the year.

Other highlights of the past year include theongoing sales of TV rights in Europe for UEFAEURO 2008™, the thorough review of the UEFAChampions League and UEFA Cup brands andthe support provided to the UEFA HatTrickprogramme with several marketing and mediaworkshops and seminars taking place.

UEFA Champions Leagueand UEFA Cup finals The UEFA Champions League final in Athensproved to be extremely successful, with manypartners describing the guest experience as “the best ever”. In the top six markets alone, 43.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the match.

The UEFA Cup final in Glasgow proved to be asuccess both on the media side, with a globallive audience of 36.6 million viewers, and withextensive promotion by the sponsors. Being thefirst final of the 2006-09 cycle, the centralisedapproached immediately created a newdynamism for the competition, indicating that further centralisation would be welcome.

UEFA EURO 2008™

Broadcast

The sales process in Europe has been ongoingthroughout the year, with most of the marketsfinalised or close to completion. Key exceptionsinclude Spain (traditionally late in committing torights deals) and Belgium, but these markets are due to be secured by the end of 2007. If the current revenue projections are achieved, it would represent an increase of approximately25% compared with EURO 2004.

UEFA managed a successful tender process forthe ex-European broadcast rights for EURO 2008(25 bids, 7 from agencies and 18 direct frombroadcasters). For the first time, UEFA hasentered into direct negotiations and contractswith broadcasters in certain significant strategicmarkets (the Americas, Indian subcontinent,Middle East and North Africa, and Hong Kong).

UEFA complemented this network of broadcasterswith Sportfive as its agent to distribute thebroadcast rights in the remaining territories.

These positive results demonstrate the strengthof the European Football Championship andreflect the increased interest in football in manyex-European markets.

Brand

A decision has been made on the music directionfor EURO 2008. The sonic logo is to be producedby Rollo from Faithless (Ark Music) and will beused in a wide number of applications such asthe official song, broadcast sequences and the ceremonies.

Youth, futsal and women’scompetitions

The Eurosport umbrella agreement guaranteeingpan-European exposure has been extended until December 2009. Under the terms of thiscontract, Eurosport will produce and broadcaston its network a minimum of 141 matches for allUEFA’s youth, women’s and futsal competitions.

10 11


UEFA Champions League2006-09

Broadcast

The first season of the new contract cycleenjoyed the best ever worldwide platform for thecompetition, with 90 broadcast partners for the2006-09 period covering more than 230 countriesand territories. This includes real improvement toour mix of broadcasters and scheduling in China,Japan and the USA, where improved deals haveensured more programming close to peak hours,with the UEFA Champions League available onleading broadcasters in these territories.

The UEFA Champions League continues toperform well in terms of audience returns, withstable live audiences in most markets against theprevailing decreasing market trend. Overall, the2006/07 season delivered a 7% increase in totalaudience for all programming across the season.

In terms of broadcasting, live streaming, andwireless content delivery, the first season provedto be very successful, with encouraging results interms of viewership and customer feedback.

Sponsorship

The first season of the 2006-09 cycle wasmarked by the newcomers raising the bar for theothers. This resulted in increased leverage andpromotion of the competition. Close to 1,000approval requests were filed.

Brand

The UEFA Champions League “Ultimate Stage”visual identity has proved to be the mostsuccessful so far produced for the competition,resulting in two prestigious design andadvertising industry awards.

UEFA Cup 2006-2009 andUEFA Super Cup

Broadcast

An impressive stable of top-level free-to-airchannels has been attracted for the centralisedapproach, with an extended family of broadcastersand coverage in over 220 countries worldwide. The centralisation, via the creation of an“appointment to view” on a regular schedule(Thursday nights at 20.45) has been well receivedby the market and has resulted in a higher mediapresence than before and a significant increase intotal revenue compared with that generated byindividual club sales.

Sponsorship rights

The sponsor concept with the first level ofcentralisation has been very successful, with theappointment of an excellent range of blue-chipcompanies, including Carlsberg, Vodafone,Toyota, Banco Santander, Intersport and Nike.

Marketing strategy development2009-12 club competitionsThe division has been preparing the marketingstrategies for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions for the 2009-12commercial cycle. The sales launch is proposedfor December 2007.

12 13


2007 European Under-21Championship final round

Broadcast rights

Moving the competition to odd-numbered years(outside the FIFA World Cup and EuropeanFootball Championship shadow) has beensuccessful. This edition of the Under-21Championship achieved good levels of coveragein all eight participating team countries, with afurther distribution to 145 countries worldwide.The financial results were very positive.

HatTrick

In five sessions over the year, all the UEFAmember associations participated in themarketing and media HatTrick seminars. This knowledge-sharing platform proved to be anexcellent tool for both the associations and UEFAto exchange views on the rapidly changing worldof media and sponsorship. The five seminarswere supported by external experts (e.g.Heineken, UBS).

The seminars were followed by workshopsthat looked in more detail into specific topicshighlighted by the associations during the seminars.

Looking ahead

The main focus for the Marketing and MediaRights Division over the next 12 months will bethe development of the UEFA EURO 2012™marketing strategy, together with theimplementation of the 2009-12 marketingstrategy for the club competitions.

This will be complemented by a complete brandreview for the European Football Championship,to be followed by the development of the UEFAEURO 2012™ logo.

Based on the brand review for the UEFA ChampionsLeague and UEFA Cup, the respective brands willbe reviewed and improved where necessary.

The finalisation of the EURO 2008 media salesprocess is another key area for the Media RightsUnit in the coming months.

Further support will be provided to the HatTrickprogramme, with the first seminars already planned.

“The Under-21 final round was the highlight of the 2006/07season. The success it enjoyed in terms of sporting quality,stadium attendance, television viewers and event attractionshowed that this competition is an important UEFA assetand rewarded the strategic decision to make it a stand-alonetournament out of the shadow of the national A teams.”

Professional Football Giorgio Marchetti

IntroductionAll our competitions are in good shape andachieved considerable success during the 2006/07 season. The UEFA Champions Leagueremains probably the best club competition in theworld and the UEFA Cup received a significantboost from the newly introduced centralmarketing of the final stages. The EuropeanUnder-21 European Championship final round inthe Netherlands reached outstanding heights,confirming the opportunity afforded by movingthe final round to odd-numbered years. TheUEFA Women’s Cup and UEFA Futsal Cupcontinued their growth.

In the first season of the current three-year lifecycle of the club competitions, most of theattention was focused on the sporting andmarketing format for the 2009-12 cycle.

For UEFA’s flagship competition, the EuropeanFootball Championship, the bidding procedurefor UEFA EURO 2012™ consumed most energy,knowing that this competition not only representsthe apex of our activities but also provides thelifeblood for the whole of European football.

The widespread development in the area ofwomen’s football is as important as the successof the competitions we organise and, for thisreason, particular attention was paid toassistance plans.

Relationships with the stakeholders inprofessional football culminated in the ambitousproject behind the creation of the ProfessionalFootball Strategy Council.

16 17


Club Competitions

2006/07 UEFA ChampionsLeague

For the first time in the competition’s history, six East European clubs secured a place in thegroup stage (FC Dynamo Kyiv, FC ShakhtarDonetsk, FC Spartak Moskva, FC SteauaBucaresti, PFC CSKA Moskva and PFC LevskiSofia). The number of goals per game rose byalmost 10% to 2.48.

The average group stage stadium attendancecorresponded to 82.4% of the capacity, the cumulative live TV audience in the six majorEuropean markets amounted to 488 millionviewers, and approximately 20,000 hours wereused worldwide to cover the competition.

As a part of the three-year strategy aimed atelevating the UEFA Champions League matchexperience for fans above that of a normal game,new elements have been successfullyimplemented during the first season, such as thestadium video board providing highlights of theother UEFA Champions League matches at half-time and full time, and a tracking systemproviding live TV graphics on players’ speed anddistance run.

A cornerstone for the redistribution of UEFAChampions League revenue was laid down byallocating part of the UEFA Champions Leagueclubs’ share to the UEFA Cup clubs.

2007 UEFA Champions League final

The 2007 final in Athens was a beautiful eventand saw AC Milan defeat Liverpool FC 2-1 before a full house of 63,000. TV viewing figurespositioned the event as a global propertyreaching over 230 territories all over the worldand a live audience of 43.2 million in the top sixmarkets alone.

The Greek local organising committee (LOC) was an outstanding partner and, thanks to itscommitment and skilful management, delivered agreat level of organisation. The city provided afabulous setting and was entirely dressed with theUEFA Champions League brands and colours.

The serious security issues at the Liverpool FCend will force UEFA to request future LOCs totighten the already high security measuresaround the final.

The five-day Champions Festival for local andvisiting fans at the Ancient Olympic Stadium,combined with the Young Champions grassrootstournament, welcomed over 170,000 visitors. The amazing extravagance of the ChampionsGallery was the most appreciated attraction andwalked thousands through the history of theUEFA Champions League and its heroes.

2006/07 UEFA Cup

Stadium attendance for the whole competitionwas up 10% compared with last season,reaching an average stadium capacity of 63%.

There were 485 dedicated broadcasts in the top sixmarkets, twice as many as in previous seasons.

For the UEFA Cup, the central marketing of thecompetition from the last stages (quarter-finalsonwards) was successfully implemented and the excellent cooperation with the clubs led to a smooth delivery of services to sponsors andbroadcasters without any legal or operationalproblems.

2007 UEFA Cup final

The final was extremely successful and the title-holders, FC Sevilla, confirmed theirsupremacy in an all-Spanish final against RCDEspanyol, so becoming the second club in thehistory of the competition to win it twice in a row.The match was played in a fantastic and joyfulatmosphere in front of 50,000 fans at HampdenPark in Glasgow, offering them 120 minutes ofthrilling football and the heartbreak of a penaltyshoot-out. The TV viewing figures were also high,reaching an average market share of almost 30% in Spain.

The organisation was impeccable, as was thepromotion of the event in the city. The ScottishLOC proved once again their outstanding abilityand experience when it comes to events like this.

2006 UEFA Super Cup andMonaco kick-off event

The all-Spanish match was staged successfullyfor the tenth consecutive year at the Stade LouisII in Monte Carlo. In a thrilling game, FC Sevilladefeated FC Barcelona 3-0. The TV viewership in Spain was the highest ever for a UEFA SuperCup match, with 4.5 million for a market share of 47.1%.

Club competition structure 2009-12

For 16 months, the formats of the UEFA clubcompetitions have been analysed from a sportingand marketing point of view, through extensiveconsultation with stakeholders and research. Anad hoc working group consisting ofrepresentatives of national associations, leaguesand clubs delivered a number ofrecommendations in January 2007, whichsupported the existing format of the UEFAChampions League, while suggesting a new 48-team format and increased marketingcentralisation for the UEFA Cup. Subsequently,additional work was done to develop proposalsfor changes to the UEFA Champions Leagueaccess list to allow increased representation ofcountries in the competition.

UEFA club competition finals 2010and 2011 – bidding process

The bidding process for the 2010 and 2011 finalswas started. A high number of candidateassociations (11) applied for both UEFAChampions League and UEFA Cup finals and willbe shortlisted upon presentation of their dossiers.

18 19


National Team Competitions

UEFA EURO 2008™

UEFA EURO 2008™ in Austria and Switzerland isbeing prepared and many events took placeduring the season, all of which are covered in the Euro 2008 SA chapter.

UEFA EURO 2012™

The main task of the season was the finalisationof the process leading to the selection of theEURO 2012 hosts. The date of the decision waspostponed by four months to allow the biddingconditions to be adapted to new requirementsbased on trends that had become visible at the2006 FIFA World Cup.

Official one-week site visits were conducted tothe candidate countries (Croatia/Hungary, Italyand Poland/Ukraine) in September 2006. Afterthe final submission by the bidders, an extensiveevaluation was made and, on 18 April 2007 inCardiff, Wales, the UEFA Executive Committeeappointed Poland/Ukraine to host the EuropeanFootball Championship final round in 2012.

A kick-off meeting was held at UEFA headquarterson 18 June 2007 with the presidents and otherrepresentatives of the two host associations todefine strategies and principles, and the firstconcrete actions for the organisation of EURO 2012.

European Football Championship format As requested by the UEFA Congress, a feasibilitystudy was started on a new European FootballChampionship format accommodating 24 teamsin the final round.

European Under-21 Championship

For the first time, the final round took place in anodd-numbered year, in compliance with thestrategy aimed at leveraging the competition. The qualifiers, forced into a reduced format forcalendar reasons, went smoothly and paved theway for an outstanding final round tournament in the Netherlands from 10 to 23 June 2007, which boasted numerous talented players andhigh-quality matches. The Dutch “Oranje” wereworthy winners, beating Serbia 3-0 in the finalthey reached after an amazing never-endingseries of 32 penalty kicks against England in thesemi-finals.

Attendance for the 16 matches amounted to arecord high of 212,500 spectators, making anaverage of more than 13,000 per match. A totalof eight fan festivals were organised aroundsome of the matches. Within this framework, four football marathons (21-hours non-stop) wereorganised prior to match kick-off. TV productionwas of a high quality and TV figures amounted toa 66,600,000 cumulative live audience in 150different countries and territories.

Since Sweden has been appointed to host thetournament in 2009, two groups from Sweden,including representatives of the Swedish FootballAssociation, LOC, host cities, police, etc,travelled to the Netherlands for an observers’programme that, along with the involvement of aSwedish representative in the Dutch LOC duringthe 2007 final round, will hugely benefit theorganisation of the next edition.

For the 2007-09 edition, 51 (not counting thehosts, Sweden) of UEFA’s 53 memberassociations have entered the qualifyingcompetition that already started in June 2007.

Women’s football

In the UEFA Women’s Cup final, Arsenal Ladies FCbeat opponents Umeå IK 1-0 to lift the trophy.Eurosport was appointed as host broadcaster for both legs and sub-licensing deals were made with SVT and ESPN. For the first time,competition-branded TV graphics and broadcasterdeliverables were used. This, together with thepan-European broadcast, helped to promote and raise the status of the competition throughout Europe.

The development of women’s football is high onour agenda. Plans were implemented to assistnational associations and the improvement of theformat of the Women’s Cup is being considered.

A record 46 member associations entered the2007-09 European Women’s Championship – an increase of 12 associations compared with the 2003-05 competition. All 15 associationseliminated in the preliminary round of the 2007-09European Women’s Championship enrolled in asupport programme starting in autumn 2007which UEFA designed to ensure the continueddevelopment of these 15 women’s A teams.

Finland was appointed as host of the final roundin 2009, and preparations are already under way.A competition manual for all participating teamswas prepared for the first time this season.

Futsal

The new UEFA Futsal Cup format was successfullyimplemented, with the new concept of a final-fourevent, supported by a three-year contract withEurosport and UEFA centralised marketing.

At the event held in Murcia in 2007, MFK DinamoMoskva managed to beat two-time Europeanchampions Interviú Boomerang Madrid 2-1 in athrilling final.

Continuous efforts have been made to attractnewcomers. Turkey finally entered a nationalteam for the European Futsal Championshipqualifiers, while the club competition continues to grow, with four newcomer champions (Israel,after a break of two seasons, Estonia, theRepublic of Ireland and Montenegro).

As the 2007 European Futsal Championship finalround in Portugal came closer, the final draw tookplace in Porto on 12 May. The main match hall ofGondomar has since been completed.

The bidding process for the 2009 EuropeanFutsal Championship (12 teams) got under way,with four countries – Belgium (Antwerp andCharleroi), Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo),Hungary (Budapest and Debrecen) and Turkey(Istanbul) – hoping to be selected as the host bythe UEFA Executive Committee in autumn 2007.

Finally, the launch of an experimental EuropeanUnder-21 futsal tournament was approved by theExecutive Committee. The competition will takeplace in 2008.

Beach soccer

A product and a marketing analysis wasperformed during the European finals in Marseilleand at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Rioin 2006. Given the positive feedback, furthersteps are to be taken in the forthcoming months.The newly formed Futsal and Beach SoccerCommittee will study the dossier for the possiblelaunch of a UEFA beach soccer competition.

20 21


Competition AdministrationThe administration of more than 1,600 UEFAmatches last year ran smoothly. This includes theregistration of all players, coordination of fixturesand the checking and entry of all match reports.More and more, the unit is providing a service ofassistance and advice to teams on administrativeand operational matters.

The introduction of the new UEFA global ITsystem, FAME, has resulted in an increase inworkload requiring the employment of severaltemporary staff. Unit resources have beendevoted primarily to this project.

Delegates

The 5th Seminar for Match Delegates andReferee Observers took place at UEFAheadquarters on 3 and 4 May 2007. Forty-sixnew delegates attended this course which was of great help thanks to experienced speakers.

To ensure that the new delegates get a properintroduction and on-site training to fulfil theirspecific tasks, experienced mentors or “coaches”were appointed to accompany them on theirfirst assignment.

A new extranet portal was launched where matchdelegates and referee observers have access tomatch documents, information related to theirappointments, regulations and procedures.

Anti-doping

27,000 copies of the anti-doping leaflet forfootballers were distributed before the start of thenew season to all football associations and clubsparticipating in UEFA competitions.

1,048 players were tested in competition,including 471 analyses for EPO. Four positivecases were reported, including three forrecreational drugs.

All 32 teams in the UEFA Champions Leaguewere tested out of competition at least onceduring the season. 51 visits to the clubs wereconducted (eight more than last season). 506 players were tested, which is an increase of 83 players compared with last season. 431 samples were tested for EPO and no positive cases were reported.

Anti-doping education sessions were organisedat the European Under-17 Championship finalround in Belgium, the European Under-21Championship final round in the Netherlands, the Under-19 final round in Austria and theWomen’s Under-19 final round in Iceland. Allplayers, team doctors and coaches of the eightparticipating teams attended individual sessions.

An anti-doping module was elaborated for the online educational grassroots platform,Training Ground, which was officially launched on 12 May 2007. It is an important tool forexpanding the reach of information andprevention, which are fundamental in the fightagainst doping.

Professional FootballServices Once again, the work of the unit centred onstrategic issues, mainly related to professionalfootball. The unit provided administrative supportto the General Secretary for the inauguralmeeting of the Professional Football StrategyCouncil. In addition, preparatory work wasundertaken with regard to the EuropeanProfessional Football Charter.

The unit continued to be a central point formonitoring and maintaining relationships with twoof the four families represented in the StrategyCouncil – the players’ unions and theprofessional leagues. One major piece of workcompleted together with those groupings was theissuance of a set of agreed player contractminimum requirements.

The Professional Football Services Unit alsoworked closely with the Legal Division andBrussels office on a number of key matters,including the Independent European SportReview, the European Parliament Report onProfessional Football (so-called Belet Report), the EU White Paper on Sport, the issue ofindustrial relations, social dialogue withinEuropean professional football, and theorganisation of a large-scale conference with the Council of Europe in Strasbourg regardinggovernance in sport.

Additional activities included the expansion of theUEFA Documentation Centre to deal with recordsmanagement and to further develop UEFA’s linkswith universities involved in sport, the launch of astudy into whether a “Supporters Direct” modelcan work outside the UK, as well as aninvestigation into the types of supporterorganisations around Europe, and joint activitiestogether with the other main European teamsport federations (basketball, handball, icehockey, rugby and volleyball).

22 23


The Way ForwardAll activities undertaken in the 2006/07 season willcontinue to be the focus of the new season.

Once decisions have been taken on the formatand access list for the club competitions, thedefinition of details concerning implementationfrom a sporting and marketing point of view willkeep us busy and will hopefully see goodcooperation with the stakeholders concerned, inparticular the European Club Forum.

For the national team competitions, the set-up ofthe organisation for EURO 2012, in closecooperation with the hosts, Poland and Ukraine,will be the most important activity. At the sametime, the finalisation of the feasibility study for anexpanded format for the European FootballChampionship final round will provide the UEFACongress and Executive Committee with therelevant information for decisions.

The 2009 European Under-21 and Women’sChampionship final rounds will come ever closerto the operational phase and will involve greatThe European Futsal Championship final round inPortugal is a promising upcoming event andshould confirm the positive progress of thediscipline. and beach soccer may become anewcomer in the UEFA competitions family.

The Professional Football Strategy Council will bea demanding, but essential, tool in managing therelationship with the main European footballstakeholders, studying consensual settlements inconflicting areas and bringing football solutionsto football problems.

“During the 2006/07season, the Football DevelopmentDivision, with its focus on increased participation, player development, and technical advancement,expanded the UEFA Coaching Convention and the UEFA Grassroots Charter. It also organised major eventsfor national coaches, coach educators, medical personnel,and grassroots leaders, and was responsible for thevarious UEFA youth competitions, including the newCAF/UEFA Meridian Cup and the improved UEFA Regions' Cup for amateur players.”

Football Development Andy Roxburgh

IntroductionGrowth was the key word in relation tograssroots activities. Following six regionalgrassroots courses, the membership of theGrassroots Charter increased from 6 to 21, with 16 more registering for the evaluationprocess. Meanwhile, the Summer of GrassrootsFootball campaign attracted a record number of players – 2.3 million took part in 2006. In addition, the number of UEFA CoachingConvention members rose to 52, and theassociations permitted to issue the UEFA Pro Licence reached 38.

Following Europe's excellent showing in the 2006FIFA World Cup, the biennial National CoachesConference was held in Berlin (in collaborationwith FIFA) and was an outstanding success –over 200 participants from 70 countries took partin this showcase for international football.

26 27


Youth and AmateurThe 2006/07 season started with the successfulorganisation of the European Women’s Under-19Championship final round by the Swiss FA.Germany beat France 3-0 in the final. Thistournament was very important for the Swiss FAin terms of the promotion of women’s football inthe country. One week later, Spain beat Scotland2-1 in the European Under-19 Championshipfinal, concluding a tournament that was wellorganised by the Polish FA. Attendances at thistournament were beyond expectations, with theopening and final matches attracting over 12,000spectators in the Poznan stadium.

During the last week of February 2007, the newUEFA/CAF Meridian Cup format wasimplemented, including a Youth CoachesConference and two matches between Under-18selections from Africa and Europe. The cup waswon by the European team. Coaches from allAfrican and European member associationsattended this event, which was organisedsuperbly by the Spanish Football Federation incooperation with the City of Barcelona, theregional football federation of Catalonia and FC Barcelona.

The Spanish Under-17 national team added to theSpanish Football Federation’s silverware bywinning the European Under-17 Championship inBelgium, beating England 1-0 in Tournai in May2007. Through this well-organised tournament andthe good results of its team, the Belgium FAboosted the image of youth football in the country.

The season concluded with the UEFA Regions’Cup, which was organised extremely well by theBulgarian FA, which was hosting a major UEFAfootball event for the first time. The Polishregional football association of Dolnoslaski(Wroclaw) defeated South East Bulgaria 2-1 inextra time in front of more than 3,500 spectators.

Coaching

Europe’s top club coaches met in Geneva fortheir annual forum in September 2006. Seventeen leading coaches attended, includingthe winners of the FIFA World Cup, the UEFAChampions League and the UEFA Cup. ForUEFA, it was again an excellent opportunity todiscuss football trends with the technicians andto listen to their views on the major issuesaffecting top club football.

Following the National Coaches Conference, the 16th UEFA Course for Coach Educators washeld at the technical centre of the Italian FootballFederation in Coverciano. The course focused onthe creation of a new A level youth diploma forthose working with top-level youth players.

The 2nd Elite Women’s Coaches Forum inDecember 2006 involved the leading techniciansin women's football. These experts were invitedto voice their opinions about technical andorganisational matters relating to UEFA’s topwomen's competitions and the furtherdevelopment of the women’s game.

For futsal coaches, specific tactical software was developed, while further technicalexchanges between the national associationswere promoted. Under the banner of theCoaching Convention, the division helped tocoordinate and finance internships for manycoach educators.

Further work was done on the UEFA CoachesCircle extranet, which provides access toexclusive coaching material, as well as contentfrom all the technical conferences held by UEFA.The Training Ground site on uefa.com, sponsoredand directed by the Football DevelopmentDivision, was launched in May 2007.

Grassroots

As mentioned in the introduction, the 2006Summer of Grassroots Football was a hugesuccess again. Special awards were delivered forveterans and disability football.

Under the grassroots banner, a ten-step plan toenhance disability football structures and ageneric disability football e-learning course onuefa.com were developed.

The six regional grassroots workshops whichended in October involved all 52 memberassociations. Action plans were prepared for allnational associations and these helped to increasethe membership of the Grassroots Charter.

One of the key events in spring 2007 was the 7thUEFA Grassroots Football Conference in Helsinki.The conference programme was well received byall associations, confederations, clubs andexternal agencies in attendance. It was animportant step in further implementing theGrassroots Charter and disseminating UEFA’sphilosophy on grassroots football.

The Football Development Division supportedgrassroots football events in the lead-up to theUEFA Champions League final in Athens andUEFA Cup final in Glasgow.

Medical Matters

The expansion of the injury studies wassuccessfully put into place. All developmentcompetitions were included in the study, carried out by Professor Ekstrand and his team.The reports on the European Under-17, Under-19, Under-21 and Women’s Under 19Championships were finalised.

The 4th UEFA Medical Symposium was held inIstanbul in November 2006. It was attended bythe team doctors of the UEFA memberassociations, as well as 20 top European clubs. It served to review the past, monitor the presentand predict the future of medical support infootball. Well-known experts gave lectures,presentations and talks on subjects such as the relationship between the team doctor and the head coach, the fight against doping, and analysis of injuries.

Central issues during the last year were themedical requirements for UEFA’s top competitions,medical records and emergency care on the pitch.

28 29


The Way ForwardDuring the 2007/08 season, the UEFA CoachingConvention should close the circle, with all 53UEFA member associations becoming members,while the Grassroots Charter will undoubtedlyexpand its numbers and scope.

The new UEFA elite youth diploma (A level) willbe launched and a number of associations will begiven approval to issue UEFA-endorsed youthdiplomas. Technical exchanges (e.g. coaching,grassroots, women's football, futsal) will beexpanded through internships and short visits toother associations.

The new European Women's Under-17Championship will be established, with the firstfinal tournament (involving four teams) being heldin May 2008. Conferences and courses will be organised for elite youth football, futsal, coach educators and technical directors, and high-profile technical studies will be carriedout during the 2007/08 UEFA Champions Leagueand at EURO 2008.

“The 2006/07 season was a year full of communicationschallenges, both in the political and sporting arena. Our dialogue and discussions with the European authorities continued unabated and at the highest level,including a meeting between the UEFA President, Michel Platini, and the President of the European Commission,José Manuel Barroso, as we continued to seek recognitionof the specific nature of sport by EU legislation.

“The high-profile nature of the club competitions and thequalifying matches for UEFA EURO 2008™ meant a busyperiod for our media services, along with the daily mediawork and tournament activities.”

Communications and Public Affairs William Gaillard

IntroductionLobbying work and a heavy meeting schedule inBrussels continued to dominate UEFA’s workwith the EU throughout 2006/07. Much headwaywas made with the political institutions inBrussels and many allies were gained. The effectof this for the article on sport within the newEuropean Treaty remains to be seen, but we havecertainly made our case for the autonomy ofsport in general and the ability of football togovern itself independent from either the EU or law court decisions.

The change of UEFA president in January 2007brought with it an increase in media attention onUEFA as a whole and a marked rise in individualmedia requests and activity.

32 33

Communications and Public Affairs

Media ServicesThe 2006/07 season saw the Media Services Unitcontinue the daily communications activities forUEFA. This included working across all divisionswithin UEFA drafting and issuing media releases,dealing with media enquiries, writing and editingarticles for both UEFA and outside publications,writing speeches and producing corporateliterature.

In addition during the 2006/07 season, particularsupport was given to the UEFA ChampionsLeague trophy tour of the Far East and theChampions Festival around the UEFA ChampionsLeague final in Athens, supporting both withcommunications expertise, materials and staff.

UEFA was also involved at the Salon du Footballin Marseille in December 2006 and had a standwhere it showcased its social responsibility andanti-doping activities.

The three-man press office, via the media desk,continued to be the mainstay of the dailydialogue between UEFA and the internationalmedia, handling a variety of media enquiriesranging from kick-off times to official statements.

In addition the unit was involved in the writingand production of programmes for the EuropeanUnder-17, Under-19, Under-21 and Women’sUnder-19 Championships, UEFA Women’s Cup,UEFA Futsal Cup, UEFA Regions’ Cup andUEFA-CAF Meridian Cup programmes, as well ascoordinating and overseeing media interviewswith senior UEFA executives.

Finally, media accreditations surrounding the clubcompetition draws held in Nyon, replies to all fanmail enquiries, and the mailing and dispatching ofpublications and documents as required was also undertaken.

Champions™ magazineFresh off the back of a successful three-yearcycle, the official UEFA Champions Leaguemagazine entered a new season with even morelanguage versions than the previous year. In2006/07, Champions was available in six languageversions namely, English, French, Spanish,Japanese, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese.

Publications The Publications Unit had another busy yearwriting and producing uefadirect, the monthlymagazine for the European football family, as wellas other publications in cooperation with theFootball Development Division, including theGrassroots Football Newsletter, Medicine Mattersand The Technician. It also continued to produceall technical reports on competitions, the FirstDivision Clubs in Europe booklet and the diary forUEFA and its committee members, as well as theOfficial Results booklet for all UEFA matches in the2006/07 season. New for this season was TheFutsal Technician, also produced in collaborationwith the Football Development Division.

34 35

Communications and Public Affairs

Brussels Office

Brussels remained the central theatre for many of the political and legal battles that will shapethe future of European football. In 2006/07, our Brussels office needed to mobilise the whole network of allies we have been patientlybuilding in the European Commission andEuropean Parliament.

The Brussels office worked intensively on threepolitical campaigns: the European Commission’sWhite Paper on Sport, the European Parliament’sReport on Professional Football (‘Belet Report’),and the EU Directive on Audiovisual Services.

White PaperAlthough the White Paper offered no greater legal certainty to sports governing bodies, it nonetheless supported UEFA policy in manyimportant areas. We successfully shaped keyparts of the text, obtaining strong support fornational teams, training policies for youngplayers, the international transfer system,solidarity with grassroots sport, and the UEFA licensing system.

The Belet Report gave even stronger support toUEFA policy. The document defends theEuropean sports model (the pyramid), the centralmarketing of media rights and the redistributionof revenues (solidarity payments), UEFA’s newrules on the local training of players, as well asUEFA’s club licensing system.

We succeeded in limiting damage from the EU’sAudiovisual Services Directive, which introducesnew rules on short news reports from events ofhigh public interest. We managed to removesome potentially harmful aspects of thelegislation, in particular reducing the scope forthird parties to re-sell our content for their owncommercial gain.

EU celebration match, Old TraffordThe Brussels office helped to organise thecelebration match with Manchester United,marking the 50th anniversary of the EU’s Treatyof Rome. The office coordinated the political andmedia activities in Brussels.

Working together with the European Commissionand an international advertising agency, weproduced a 30-second film encouraging physicalactivity, which will appear at half-time duringmatches throughout the 2007/08 UEFAChampions League.

The Brussels office helped design and produce“Only a Game?”, a three-month exhibition aboutfootball and European identity. UEFA jointlyfunded the project with the Brussels Region, andinvited Lilian Thuram to serve as patron.

Social ResponsibilityUEFA continued to support selected organisationsand campaigns that promote football for all or usesport to enhance development.

The Cross Cultures Project Association (CCPA)organised 138 week-long Open Fun FootballSchools in August. Involving 27,500 boys and girls in South-East Europe and the Caucasus, the project was designed to strengthen theprocess of peace and reconciliation and contributeto the development of grassroots football.

The Homeless World Cup was held in CapeTown, South Africa, in September. There were500 participants from 48 countries (25 of whichare within UEFA). It was the culmination of year-round football activities involving over10,000 homeless people.

The International Blind Sports Association (IBSA)accepted the 2006 Monaco Charity Award at theUEFA Super Cup match on 25 August. The awardof CHF 1 million will enable the IBSA to extend itsfootball development programme across Europe.

The Unite Against Racism campaign was givenvisibility at the UEFA Super Cup match inMonaco via branded captain’s armbands andadvertising boards plus articles in the matchprogramme. The guide for clubs that resultedfrom the Barcelona Unite Against Racismconference, "Tackling Racism in Club Football",was published in English and distributed at theclub competition draws, and German, French,Italian, Spanish and Russian versions was madeavailable in time for the FARE action week inOctober 2006.

World Heart Day was celebrated on 24September. Organised by the World HeartFederation, it put a strong emphasis on the roleof sports in preventing cardiovascular diseaseand combating the associated epidemic ofchildhood obesity. UEFA supported footballactivities, which involved many national memberassociations in Europe.

NetworkingIn addition, UEFA was a leading contributor tothe European discourse on sports anddevelopment and social issues. It participatedand made contributions at several conferences,among others, on the theme “Choose Fair Play”at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne and “Sportand Development” at the House of Sports in Vienna.

The Way ForwardUEFA’s relationship with the European Union will continue to significantly influence thedevelopment of European football. The Charleroiv FIFA case will probably present the next majorchallenge, and we will need to mobilise ourpolitical allies in all the EU institutions.

Our work with the international media must alsocontinue at a high tempo and help in influencingvaluable opinion-makers throughout thecontinent, as well as servicing the needs of thesports media and the football fan.

Finally, our social responsibility work will continueto support our core partners for the 2007/08season, with added activities planned around EURO 2008.

“Dialogue with the member associations was the leitmotif ofthe National Associations Division last season and willcontinue to be so in the future. Roundtables for topexecutives, knowledge-sharing programmes for middlemanagement and tailor-made courses for referees andsecurity personnel were in the foreground of the activities, aswas financial assistance to the associations for physical andintellectual infrastructure through the HatTrick programme.”

National Associations Jacob Erel

IntroductionThe division was responsible for introducing thenew Referee Convention, preparing both theStadium Regulations and Security Regulations forthe 2007/08 season, intensifying the HatTrickprogramme activities as more funding was madeavailable to the associations, and continuing thedevelopment of the Top Executive Programme.

The ground was also prepared for theassociations to start working towards a MinimumQuality Standard Convention through workshopsand discussions.

Collaboration with FIFA on national associationissues was significantly enhanced and this was acrucial factor in some cases where the twoorganisations had to impose drastic measures toresolve various problems of a political nature.

38 39


National Association Services The results of the Top Executive Programme(TEP) became much more visible in the 2006/07season, making a real and positive impact. The 2006 series of eight TEP roundtablesinvolving top executives from 46 nationalassociations played an important role in realisingan old wish of many associations, namely toexamine the possibility of expanding theEuropean Football Championship final roundfrom 16 to potentially 24 teams. No fewer than 47 of the then 52 UEFA member associationsvoted at the 2007 UEFA Congress in favour ofserious study being given to this possibility.Another direct TEP result was the launch of the UEFA-adidas kit assistance scheme in 2007,aimed in particular at supporting the smallerassociations and saving hundreds of thousands of euros.

The vision behind TEP is to support associations'top executives in their role as decision-makers.The best way to do so is not to educate them butto work together with them to develop their game,their organisation and their business on a demand-driven and voluntary basis.

Furthermore, TEP follow-up visits were conductedto some national associations on their request andthe consultancy part of the programme continued.

Finally, the development of a good governancestandard for national associations continued andis being discussed during 2007.

Assistance Programmes To date, i.e. approximately one year before thecurrent HatTrick programme draws to a close, the HatTrick Board has approved investmentprojects worth a total of CHF 113 million (87% ofthe available funding) and CHF 98 million (75%)has already been paid out. It can be assumedthat UEFA will have used all the funds availablefor these projects by the end of the programme.

By and large, the same applies to the mini-pitchproject. All but four associations have alreadysubmitted their projects. Funding of just overCHF 47 million (almost 91% of the total fundsavailable) has been granted and around CHF 42million paid out.

In the HatTrick education programme, a total ofCHF 20 million has been earmarked for furtherenhancing professionalism within theassociations.

During the period under review, further coursesfor middle management in the field of projectmanagement, marketing, finance, communicationand media have been organised. All 53associations have participated.

UEFA held a total of six workshops, all decentralised and taking the associations’interests into account. The aim of the workshopsis to deal with specific areas of particularpractical importance for the associations (e.g. event management, TV rights, crisismanagement, new media).

In parallel, UEFA launched its HatTrickknowledge-sharing platform. The aim here is torefresh and improve association staff members’professional expertise and skills using electronicpresentations, videos, games and tests. So far,modules on the themes of project management,marketing, communication and media have been launched.

At a special workshop in Vienna, all 53 memberassociations were introduced to a new tool called“Scoreboard” which allows the definition ofprecise objectives and the introduction ofindicators to properly measure whether theobjectives are achieved or not.

The new Meridian education project entered itssecond phase of the “teach the teachers”programme for coaches and referees with theimplementation of five regional courses inTanzania, Congo, Libya, Mali and Namibia. Intotal, more than 190 coaches and referees haveattended the different seminars.

The project to distribute footballs to the 53 African associations within the framework of the CAF jubilee has started and been very well received.

Refereeing The first ten national associations signed the UEFAConvention on Referee Education andOrganisation (Belgium, Finland, France, Germany,Hungary, Luxemburg, Norway, Scotland, Sloveniaand Switzerland). The signing ceremony tookplace on 28 June 2007 and these associations willnow benefit from financial support over the nextfive years to be invested in refereeing projects.

As its core activity, the Refereeing Unit servicedthe UEFA competitions by appointing refereeteams for all UEFA matches during the 2006/07season.

In terms of education and developmentprogrammes, five new courses were organised for referee observers. It is very practical training,where the participants attend a match togetherand then discuss the assessment of the referee’sperformance under the guidance of the instructors.

Stadium and Security The Stadium and Security Education Programme(SSEP) was launched at the end of 2006.Between November 2006 and February 2007, the unit organised five three-day kick-offworkshops for all the national associations’stadium and security experts.

The unit assisted the following nationalassociations to organise national stadium andsecurity workshops: Greece, Italy, Poland, Turkey,and Ukraine.

The unit led the development of new StadiumRegulations and Security Regulations. The newregulations were approved by the UEFAExecutive Committee in October 2006 andintroduced to the national associations’ stadiumand security experts at the SSEP kick-offworkshops.

A new pan-European partnership, comprisingpan-European governmental and police expertsand UEFA, was created to further improve safetyand security arrangements at internationalfootball matches in Europe. A pan-Europeansafety and security work programme is currentlybeing established, outlining a coherent andcomprehensive framework for action, raisingstandards across Europe, while adapting to local conditions.

Security officers were appointed based upon riskassessment and close monitoring of the securityplanning and operations for the various UEFAcompetitions.

During the 2006/07 season, over 100 stadiuminspection visits were carried out. Requiredimprovements were permanently checked and monitored.

40 41


The Way Forward

National Association Services

More demand-driven and concrete follow-upactions via roundtables are the future.Consultancy and databases will be developedwith the associations in the 2007/08 season,concentrating, in particular, on the themes ofincreasing revenues and/or saving costs forUEFA’s member associations, as well assupporting them in issues regarding therelationship between association and state and association and league

Assistance Programmes

The unit will supervise the proper completion ofthe whole HatTrick investment and mini-pitchprogramme from 2003 to 2008, including thecorrect use of the additional funds of CHF 1.2million per association, with special focus on the funds earmarked for projects related toquality management.

Education will address, in particular, security,events, image, sponsors, and new media rightsthrough workshops, virtual meetings, follow-upvisits and e-learning modules.

The Meridian Project will continue to focus on the implementation of the “teach the teachers”youth and grassroots development programmethroughout Africa. A new CAF convention forcoaches will be introduced and implemented.Through the Alive & Kicking project, UEFA willdistribute 81,000 footballs to the 53 Africannational associations.

Refereeing

The Refereeing Unit will focus on the preparationof the referees’ team (12 referees, 24 assistantreferees and four fourth officials) for EURO 2008from a technical and logistical point of view.

The second group of eight associations whichapplied for membership of the RefereeConvention are being visited in the autumn and will sign in December 2007, when a third groupwill start the process to become members inJune 2008.

Finally, the education programme for referees,instructors and observers will continue with theobjective of improving the quality of matchofficials all over Europe.

Stadium and Security

The unit will continue to proactively assistnational associations in setting up their stadiumand security policies and activities and will leadthe development of the stadium and securityknowledge platform.

The unit will further enhance the new pan-European partnership, comprising pan-Europeangovernmental and police experts and UEFA, andwill also further contribute to the establishment ofthe pan-European safety and security workingprogramme.

The unit will closely monitor securityarrangements for UEFA’s competitions and finals.

“The 2006/07 season was marked on the legal side by the amendments to the UEFA Statutes which wereunanimously approved by the Extraordinary Congress on 28 May 2007 in Zurich. These amendments project UEFAinto a new era and put the manifesto of the UEFA Presidentand the wishes of the national associations into practice.

“Between February and June 2007, I was also given thetask and the honour of heading the administration as ActingChief Executive in order to prepare for the arrival of the newGeneral Secretary, David Taylor. I would like to sincerelythank the UEFA President and Executive Committee fortheir confidence in me, as well as the members of thefootball family and all my colleagues at UEFA for theircooperation and support during these months.”

Legal Affairs and Club Licensing Gianni Infantino

44 45

Legal Affairs and Club Licensing

IntroductionIn addition to providing legal support and adviceto UEFA and its members on a wide range ofmatters, the Legal Affairs and Club LicensingDivision also has the task of proactively dealingwith the ever-increasing number of legalchallenges that football faces.

Despite being heavily involved in a lobbyingcampaign on the European Commission’s WhitePaper on Sport, together with FIFA, the IOC and the European team sport federations, the outcome of the long-awaited White Paper,aimed at providing a higher degree of legalcertainty to sport, was disappointing. UEFA hadhoped for a clearer standpoint from the EuropeanCommission in the interests of the Europeansports model and the specificity of sport.Important legal cases, such as the Charleroicase, underline the need for progress in this area.

Further to the January elections, all nationalassociations were consulted on proposedamendments to the UEFA Statutes. Theseamendments, which were unanimously acceptedby the Extraordinary Congress in May, establish anew expanded committee structure to enable abetter representation of national associations.The revised statutes also acknowledge the newProfessional Football Strategy Council whichbrings together all stakeholders (nationalassociations, leagues, clubs and players) at ahigh level. New UEFA Organisational Regulationswere then developed which detail theorganisation of the new bodies.

EU MattersOnce again, UEFA has been dealing with many EU-related issues that have majorramifications on the way in which football isorganised in Europe.

In July 2006, the European Court of Justicehanded down an important judgment in theMeca-Medina case (a doping matter involvingtwo swimmers). This judgment has far-reachingconsequences and makes it even more likely thatsports rules and regulations may be challengedunder EU law. This only emphasises the need tosecure better legal recognition for the specificityof sport in the EU legal order.

In this respect, UEFA has been very active in the follow-up work to the Independent EuropeanSport Review authored by Jose Luis Arnaut. The review contains many valuablerecommendations that could help to create amore secure legal environment for football.

In March 2007, the European Parliament adopteda Report on the Future of Professional Football inEurope, a document that contains many positiveelements and with which UEFA was broadlysatisfied. Nevertheless, the EuropeanCommission’s eagerly anticipated White Paperon Sport, adopted in the summer of 2007, has done little to improve or clarify the situationfrom a legal point of view. This means that muchwork remains to be done, particularly with vitallegal matters such as the Charleroi case still pending.

Commercial Legal ServicesThis unit provides legal support across all areasof the commercial activity of UEFA and itssubsidiaries, including the exploitation of media,sponsorship, and licensing rights. In the last year,the unit successfully concluded over 450commercial agreements in connection withUEFA’s various competitions, delivering revenuesto UEFA in excess of EUR 1 billion.

In respect of UEFA EURO 2008™, the unitfinalised agreements with all sponsors andcontinued to work with the Sportfive marketingagency in entering into media rights agreements,as well as with UEFA Media Technologies (UMET)in setting up UEFA’s first-ever host broadcastoperation. In addition, the unit concluded anumber of media, sponsorship and licensingagreements for all other national teamcompetitions and the Meridian Cup.

As for club competitions, the unit worked withTEAM Marketing AG to conclude sponsorship,media and licensing agreements for the period2006 to 2009 for the UEFA Champions League,the UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Cup.

In addition, the unit continued to take an activerole in protecting the commercial interests ofUEFA and those of its individual memberassociations and stakeholders. This includedparticipating in consultations on a number ofregulatory matters, including those in respect of‘listed events’ (EU Television Without FrontiersDirective, Audiovisual Media Services Directiveconcerning news access/short news reports and,in the context of internet piracy, the EUConditional Access Directive and proposed WorldIntellectual Property Organization (WIPO)Broadcasting Treaty). Also on the increasinglyprevalent issue of internet piracy, the unitcontinued to take action against internet pirates,preventing them from unlawfully exploiting UEFAaudio-visual content.

Corporate Legal ServicesThe unit is in charge of the risk management, risk protection, tax advice and tax managementof UEFA and its subsidiaries and provides legalsupport in organisational, structural, employment,property and IT matters. Following the changes infunctions at UEFA and the reorganisation of theUEFA administration, the unit handled theregistration of the new corporate structures,adapting the existing contracts.

UEFA’s risk as an organisation was newlyassessed and, supported by an external financialgovernance review, corporate risk managementwas streamlined between the differentorganisational entities. Insurance and legalprotection for all UEFA tournaments andcompetitions was tailored to the individual risks of each venue, with a focus on high risks andprobabilities. Special attention was placed thisyear on insurance cover of third parties inconnection with UEFA events, including liabilityinsurance of local organising committees (LOCs)and stadiums.

The tax exempt not-for-profit tax status of UEFAand the cost-plus tax rulings of the UEFAsubsidiaries were further strengthened. An officialVAT revision by the Swiss authorities reinforced thedeclaration policies and controls in place withinUEFA. For UEFA EURO 2008™, a comprehensiveVAT tax ruling was concluded with Switzerlandand Austria, harmonising the tax burden for thetournament and avoiding double taxation. Hence, the taxation of players remains the onlymajor tax issue with respect to this tournament.

In addition, the unit continued to provide legaladvice and support to UEFA and the footballfamily on a wide range of legal areas, from dataprotection, to anti-corruption, to corporatestructures abroad and to the status of sportsmenand international organisations in Switzerland and other UEFA member countries.

46 47


Disciplinary Legal ServicesDuring this reporting period, 929 disciplinarycases were dealt with from a total of 1,722 officialmatches played. Appeals were lodged against 33decisions; in other words, 3.5% of disciplinarycases were taken to appeal. The decision of thecourt of first instance, the Control andDisciplinary Body, was upheld in 18 cases (54%)and amended in 7 cases (21%). The appealsprocedure in the remaining eight cases wasresolved by means of the solution provided for byArticle 55 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulationsthat allows the Appeals Body to comply with theidentical requests of the parties.

The UEFA disciplinary bodies were confrontedwith several serious cases of crowd disturbance,where the clubs responsible had to bedisqualified from the competition in question.One of these cases was brought before the Courtof Arbitration for sport (CAS) where UEFA’s firmstand against supporter violence was upheld.

Event Legal ServicesRegarding UEFA EURO 2008™, this unit hasbeen working closely with national and localauthorities in Switzerland and Austria to prepareUEFA’s rights protection programme, in additionto worldwide intellectual property registrationsand legal actions to safeguard UEFA’s interests.All necessary support has also been provided forthe drafting and follow-up of hundreds ofcontracts related to the organisation of nextyear’s major event. Full legal assistance has alsobeen provided prior to and following theappointment of the UEFA EURO 2012™ hosts,Poland and Ukraine.

The legal framework related to the organisation ofwomen’s, youth and club competitions has beenfurther developed and standardised, and fullsupport has been provided in relation to thenumerous charity and social responsibilityprojects UEFA has launched over the past year.

On a more general basis, the unit has beeninvolved in or has conducted several footballpromotion-related projects in conjunction withnational and international authorities andagencies, initiating or leading to legislationchanges in countries such as England and Wales,Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Hungary, Croatia,Ukraine and Poland in the fields of ticketing andstadium security, intellectual property, unfaircompetition and ambush marketing, or evenconsumer protection and public viewing.

Sports Legal Services andClub LicensingThe unit was heavily involved in the preparationof the amendments to the UEFA Statutes, which were revised twice this season, firstly forthe Ordinary Congress in January 2007 inDüsseldorf and secondly for the ExtraordinaryCongress in May 2007 in Zurich. Furthermore,the new UEFA Organisational Regulations weredrafted. In collaboration with FIFA, we continuedsupporting more than 20 member associations in adapting and improving their own statutes.Finally, we dealt with the affiliation process for thenewest UEFA member association, the FootballAssociation of Montenegro. Our regulationscoordination staff supported the productmanagers in drafting and printing the differentcompetition regulations.

Twenty-four new match agent licences wereissued and two renewed. UEFA now has morethan 100 licensed UEFA match agents.

The club licensing team’s main task consisted ofthe accreditation of all 53 national club licensingregulations. Two major seminars, concerning thepresentation of new licensing standards as wellas case studies, were organised in Vienna andGeneva, involving all licensors and their decision-making bodies. Furthermore, severalgroup meetings involving a limited number ofassociations were organised to share bestpractices and experiences. Such gatherings are appreciated by the participants as usefulexchange platforms.

The benchmarking project, aimed at themobilisation and analysis of data collected throughthe licensing channel, was initiated in cooperationwith a working group composed of expertsappointed by 11 licensors. Finally, the unitimplemented the compliance concept, consisting ofseveral site visits and audits (seven spot checks) atlicensor level. The results were partially satisfyingfor UEFA, and three cases were referred forinvestigation to the UEFA Organs for theAdministration of Justice, which decided to issuefines and warnings to the licensors concerned.

48 49


The Way ForwardOur strategy for the future is still aimed atshaping a specific legal environment for footballand, for this reason, our relationship with the EUwill continue to be of utmost importance.

We will also continue to work closely with FIFAand other sports federations on matters relatedto sports law and the regulatory environment of sport.

There has also been a very close cooperationwith FIFA on the Charleroi case in order toprotect the rule requiring clubs to release playersfor national team duty, and UEFA looks forwardto a positive outcome in this significant case.

2008 will bring the European FootballChampionship to Austria and Switzerland, andthe Legal Division will face the challenge ofensuring the smooth running of the event in all legal areas.

Next year will see the implementation of the new club licensing manual. This is yet anotherimportant step in the efforts of UEFA, its memberassociations and clubs to improve goodgovernance and compliance in footballthroughout Europe.

Finally, when it comes to disciplinary matters,there have, unfortunately, been several importantincidents related to violence in the stands andracism during the last year. In all cases, the UEFAdisciplinary bodies have taken firm action and willcontinue to do so in the future should such casescontinue to occur. This is in line with the zerotolerance policy which has been expressedseveral times by the UEFA President andExecutive Committee.

“It has been an exciting year for the Services Division, one that could be described as a year of revival in that,after five years' hard work to create a solid, stable andprofessional team, we are now making a significantcontribution to the installation of the new UEFA leadershipand to the fulfilment of its objectives.”

Services Jean-Paul Turrian

52 53

Services

IntroductionThe implementation of the projects related toUEFA’s new leadership while, at the same time,still performing our day-to-day work, has requiredexceptional effort. Thanks to the confidence andsupport of the leadership, we have, however, beenable to meet all the administrative, organisationaland logistical needs with enthusiasm.

Director’s officeOur policy of availability, information andcooperation towards all our partners continues to earn us appreciation and respect, asdemonstrated, for example, by the unanimousvote of the Nyon town council in support of thenew "La Métairie" ward plan, as well as theexcellent cooperation we enjoy with the cantonalauthorities in all matters which come under their responsibility.

Human ResourcesThis unit has undergone significant reorganisation.First, it was reincorporated into the ServicesDivision on 1 February 2007. A new head of unitwas then recruited, who is extremely professionaland concurs totally with the director in terms offully supporting the establishment of a realmanagement process within UEFA.

The unit has also benefited from the arrival of a new recruitment officer, who is consistentlycommended for his professionalism and commitment.

Internally, tasks have been redefined, andprocedures clarified and improved. The workinghours and availability of the staff have also beenredefined and, last but not least, a member of theteam has been given responsibility for qualitycontrol within the unit.

Recruitment

Recruitment has been intense, both for UEFA andmassively so for Euro 2008 SA. Our new onlinerecruitment tool (Vurv) has been operational since23 April. It allows applications to be handledmore efficiently and professionally. During theyear under review, several thousand applicationshave been processed.

The Annual Appraisal Activityprocess

A simplified staff annual appraisal activity (AAA)was introduced in June. It consists of anevaluation of performance, salary and position.Human resources are now managed according tothe football year instead of the calendar year, a change that is working well.

Training

Special attention has been given to ensuring thatthe skills of managers and general staff arealways suited to our needs in the areas of projectmanagement, IT, languages and management.

Language ServicesThe unit’s workload (translation, editing, andrevision) has increased by more than 50% in fouryears and has now reached a volume of threemillion words a year. The number of translatorshas not increased, however, which has meant aconsiderable amount of overtime and weekend work.

The football dictionary project is making goodprogress and a contract has been signed for theGerman version with dictionary publishersLangenscheidt.

As far as the recruitment of interpreters isconcerned, the system is working well now andthe teams are familiar with and suited to thedifferent needs. In the year under review, some 1,000 man-days were managed.

54 55

Services

Travel and Conferences

2007 UEFA Congress inDüsseldorf

Three hotels were managed, 400 guestsaccommodated and 16 meetings organised atthe main hotel.

UEFA Cup final in Glasgow

539 overnights, 232 guests accommodated, 7 meetings at the main hotel.

UEFA Champions League final inAthens

Three hotels were managed, 850 overnights and353 guests, and 17 meetings were held at themain hotel.

2008/09 finals

Difficult negotiations were encountered with oneof the bidding cities.

2010/11 finals

A project was initiated and is running normally. Itshould enable us to resolve all problems well inadvance in future.

EURO 2008

The unit negotiated the contracts with the mainhotels in Switzerland and Austria, as well as forthe draw in Lucerne. They will be managed bythe Euro 2008 SA accommodation team.

2008 UEFA Congress

All negotiations were conducted by the unit.

Travel management

Based on our negotiations, 15 airlines are nowoffering UEFA special and simplified conditions,generating annual savings of more than CHF 10million compared with 2003. 11,152 ticketsissued (22.1% more than last year) at an averageticket price (in Europe) of CHF 1,392 before tax(i.e. 15.6% less than last year and 44.6% lessthan 2003).

Carlson Wagonlit

Excellent collaboration was achieved in the year.A new office layout and a new member of staffdealing with EURO 2008 activities ensued.15,887 operations were carried out. i.e. 31.7%more than last year.

Key figures

Number of meetings organised in Nyon: 1,279 (+10.9%)

Number of guests (all categories): 23,000 (+5.6%)

Number of meetings/day: 730 (+14%)

UEFA restaurant (Compass)

Heavy increase in demand: average of 157 mealsa day (+7.6%) served in the self-service sectionoriginally intended to cater for 80-100 clients, and 730 a month in the VIP section (+15.5%).

A cost-price study (audit and analysis) wasconducted, as a result of which management andreporting improvement measures were taken.

Facility Management

La Métairie project

After lengthy study, the new ward plan wasaccepted by the Vaud cantonal authorities andpublished. Three objections were lifted afterdifficult negotiation. The plan was approvedunanimously by the Nyon town council and theproblem of the reserve land settled with thecantonal authorities. The land has been boughtand the project launched.

Reception

The reception team was incorporated into theFacility Management Unit on 6 March 2007 with a view to improving the services provided to ourinternal and external clients as part of a dynamicmanagement process. As a first step, anelectronic visitor management system was set up.

Removals

A lot of office moves have been handled to takeaccount of the new UEFA structure.

Technical equipment

A cooling unit costing CHF 300,000 had to beinstalled to resolve the problem of the risingtemperature of the lake, water from which is usedfor the building’s air-conditioning system.

To improve traffic and safety, the car park hasbeen equipped with electronic display boards toshow how many free parking places remain anda new video surveillance system has beeninstalled in the main building and itssurroundings.

Stock management

The system is now in place and a completestocktaking exercise was conducted at the end of July.

Haulage

A new contract was signed to reduce haulageand storage costs.

Purchases

The purchase management system has beendeveloped to make it more efficient and toimprove cost control.

Mail

The management of incoming/outgoing mail,parcels/letters, normal mail and express mail hasbeen improved, despite huge volumes and verydifficult requests.

Security

Based on an updated security concept, a fire drillwas successfully carried out.

56 57

Services

The Way ForwardThe Services Division is enthusiastic about andtotally committed to UEFA's new structure. It willbe heavily involved in establishing a modern,integrated organisation and management systemaffecting the whole administration.

The plans to build a second building for theadministration on the site of La Métairie will alsobe a major challenge.

In the human resources sector, all processes anddocuments will be revised, simplified as far aspossible and integrated into our managementprocess. A special effort will be required tocomplete all the recruitments required by Euro2008 SA and to prepare for the departure of Euro2008 SA staff once their assignment is over.

Finally, as is also true for the staff of all the otherdivisions, 2008 will be a very busy year, withmany of our activities related to EURO 2008. A tremendous effort will be required, but theServices Division staff are ready and willing,which guarantees a successful outcome.

“’A Season of Convergence’ would seem to be a suitableway of describing the 2006/07 season. UEFA MediaTechnologies simultaneously faced the merger betweentelevision and the internet, the integration of all businessapplications into one dynamic and evolving platform, and the creation of a television production department aspart of a single new technology vision. These steps haveenabled us to serve football fans in the manner they expect,and to make an optimum contribution to the promotion ofEuropean football.”

UEFA Media Technologies SA Alexandre Fourtoy (Chief Executive Officer)

IntroductionAs in any first year of a new UEFA ChampionsLeague cycle, the 2006/07 season provided itsshare of new elements to implement, as theresult of a new rights-related and commercialstructure for the competition. One of the mainhighlights was obviously the acknowledgment of “convergence” as part of the rights structure,bringing together television rights and internetrights, and leading to the creation of a complexlive internet platform for UEFA MediaTechnologies (UMET) to support our partners andensure worldwide presence of our competitions.

The 2006/07 campaign also saw the advent of FAME (Football Administration ManagementEnvironment), the integrated software platformwhich covers UEFA’s business needs. Thisplatform is designed mainly to deal with eventmanagement activities, as well as marketing andrights management. The platform now entirelymanages UEFA Champions League activities.

Given that this is the year before UEFA EURO2008™, the current season also involvespreparation of the deliveries that UEFA expectsfrom UMET to organise the tournament. UMET isthe second major provider of solutions for UEFAafter Euro 2008 SA, and covers three key areas:IT solutions, the official website and the hostbroadcast operations – areas which all representa wealth of new challenges for the company.

60 61


uefa.com passes one billion page views

With a 44% increase over the past season,uefa.com has passed the symbolic mark of onebillion pages views per season – achieving 1.2billion page views, an average of 5.4 millionunique users a month, and peaking at 8 million.Strong focus is being given this season to thewomen’s and youth competitions, which havebeen granted an increased profile within UEFA’sactivities, as well as to the re-launch of Asianlanguages, including Chinese, and to the launchof the Football Europe Match Centre direct fromthe 52 UEFA member countries. uefa.com isconfirming its special role in the promotion ofEuropean football worldwide, as well at itsexclusive bond with the fans.

Training Ground section launched

As a Football Development project, monitored byUEFA Technical Director Andy Roxburgh,uefa.com has integrated a brand-new sectiondedicated to football education as support for thegrassroots sector of the game. The TrainingGround section provides, among other things,coaches’ courses and skills tips from starplayers, and is the future home of football e-learning courses. The section makes use of thelatest technologies (video, sharing tools, etc.) forthe benefit of anyone willing to teach or learn“The Beautiful Game”.

FAME operational on UEFAChampions League

The development of the software platformdedicated to managing UEFA activities on and off the pitch has seen a major step with thelaunch of FAME, replacing all the past extranetplatforms dedicated to UEFA Champions League management.

FAME takes care of accreditations, media rights,bookings, transport, accommodation, broadcastsponsorship, brand management, etc. and isalready bringing its first benefits through theintegration of all external target groups within thesystem. Broadcasters, sponsors, agencies and,of course, UEFA staff can intervene on thesystem from anywhere, thereby enabling bettersecurity, stability and productivity. Key futuresteps include the major and sensitive stepwhereby FAME will replace the CompetitionSystem – allowing national associations andreferees, for example, to access and work on the system externally; and the continuingdevelopment of the management of EURO 2008,in the wake of successfully launched modules forticketing (more than 10 million requests handledsmoothly) and volunteers (7,000 registered onemonth after launch).

Live video on internet now a reality

The 2006/07 season has seen a major evolutionas far as the media landscape is concerned.UEFA, permanently anticipating changes insociety, has acknowledged the element of“convergence” within the sale of UEFAChampions League rights – i.e. the fact that atelevision channel is no longer receivable only ontelevision, but on a variety of constantly changingplatforms (internet, etc).

The first step includes the capacity for thebroadcasters to broadcast live, on the internet,the games they have purchased for television –with, in order to guarantee equity and a properusage of the rights, the obligation to do so.However, as technology levels vary considerablyfrom country to country, UEFA has alsocommitted itself to supporting the broadcastersby proposing an end-to-end live video service forthe internet, and by promoting all live streams onuefa.com.

The UEFA video service began its operations withmatchday 1 in the UEFA Champions League, andhas offered a high-quality internet service,including the capacity to directly use thebroadcaster signal, to protect all signals againstpiracy in each territory, to manage pay-per-viewTV, and to adapt the offer on a country-by-country basis, according to the rights purchasedby the broadcasters.

This service has been a success as far as thebroadcasters are concerned, as 50% of thebroadcasters of UEFA Champions League games– including prestigious names such as Canal PlusFrance, Sky Italia or ESPN in the Americas –have chosen to rely on UEFA for their internetoperations. UEFA, together with the UEFAChampions League broadcasters, has deliveredover 680,000 video streams over the season.

Extending the service to the national associationshas been undertaken by proposing the servicefor the coverage of EURO 2008 qualifyingmatches (around half of the matches wereavailable on the service, through an agreementwith the association agencies). As a core aspectof our wish to enhance “smaller” competitions aspart of our global solutions, we have broadcastcertain competitions in all countries where no TVcoverage was accessible. Thanks to the internet,the 2007 European Under-21 Championship finalround was available live throughout the world,creating strong interest in countries such asJapan and the United States.

62 63


UEFA EURO 2008™ hostbroadcast operations

UEFA Media Technologies will deliver aconsiderable number of services for UEFA EURO2008™, including all IT and connectivitysolutions, the official website with all relatedcontent and, for the first time, the host broadcastoperations for the tournament.

The setting up of the television productiondepartment, a consequence of UEFA’s decisionto assume responsibility for European FootballChampionship host broadcasting, has been oneof the major goals of the past year, together withthe complete production plan to ensure coverageof the tournament.

With the objective being to provide state-of-the-art coverage for the tournament, to establish a concrete basis for a truepartnership with the broadcasting partners, and to integrate and assert the technicalinnovations and developments created at UEFA Media Technologies, the production planfor the tournament was presented to the EURO2008 broadcast partners at a workshop in Viennain June 2007. The excellent reception from the TVcompanies in charge of bringing the tournamentto the fans proved the accuracy of this approach,as well as the benefit of a direct relationshipbetween UEFA and its core partners – thebroadcasters.

UEFA Media Technologies has opted for a lightset-up based around the Head of TelevisionProduction – in order to keep core knowledgeinside the company – and has decided toexternalise production to a panel of providers.This approach allows us greater control, and is a proven cost-effective measure.

One additional benefit has been the extension ofthe use of the inside knowledge which isavailable within the television department, whichhas also assumed responsibility for the hostbroadcasting of the European club season kick-off events in Monaco, as well as the productionof a number of internal videos. The departmentalso took on an assessment role for the hostbroadcasting of various events such as theEuropean Under-21 Championship final round in the Netherlands.

The Way ForwardThis season has been challenging in terms of thelevel of deliveries which UEFA Media Technologieshas to achieve for UEFA and UEFA’s competitions.This work is, of course, only the preamble to theyear to come, during which EURO 2008 will be acore company objective. Nevertheless, focus mustalso still be given to the delivery of services whichhelp to deliver and enhance all of UEFA’s other competitions.

The exciting challenges awaiting UEFA MediaTechnologies for EURO 2008 are helping tostimulate and motivate our team. Everyone iseager to showcase the solutions and servicesthat we have been integrating and implementingover the past year.

Internet and television produced in the sameplace, using information and communicationtechnologies of the latest generation, in a spirit of“convergence” – allowing UEFA to constantlyadapt to the increasingly sophisticated demandsof the European football public.

“Looking back over the past 12 months, we can see thatthe strategy and planning from previous years has reallystarted to come to fruition. The European Under-21Championship final round in the Netherlands raised the barin terms of the marketing and promotion of this event, and the UEFA EURO 2008™ sponsorship programme hasbeen completed in record time. Good planning has enabledus to meet some difficult challenges in the past year.”

UEFA Marketing and Media Management Philippe Margraff

66 67

UEFA Marketing and Media Management

IntroductionThe key achievements last season concerned theEURO 2008 sponsorship programme and the2007 Under-21 Championship. The EuropeanFootball Championship has, once again, shownthat it remains one of the world’s most desirablesponsorships. Canon has been welcomed backto the programme and UEFA concluded anagreement with a luxury watch brand as an eventsponsor for the first time. Planning continuesapace with a total of eight different partnerworkshops and top-level management summitsduring the past 12 months.

Last season was not just about the EuropeanFootball Championship. The Under-21Championship in the Netherlands impressedeveryone, not only with the quality of the football,but also with the highly professional way in whichit was promoted. New marketing ideas were usedfor the first time and the sponsors, both local andinternational, helped to popularise an event whichgoes from strength to strength both on and offthe pitch.

UEFA EURO 2008™With the completion of the EUROTOP andworldwide sponsorship programme for EURO2008, the focus turned to the NationalSupporters. The companies that support UEFA’sflagship national team competition in the hostcountries play a vital role in helping to promotethe event. In the past year, UEFA Media andMarketing Management (UMMM) has completedthe programme by filling the remaining fivepositions. In addition to the UBS, Telkom Austriaand Austria Post, the strength of our sponsorshipproposition was further supported by anassortment of companies ranging from luxurygoods and esteemed banks to the most popularconsumer products.

One of the world’s largest confectioners, Ferrero,became a sponsor. In Austria, a deal was closedwith UniCredit (Bank of Austria), ensuring that theimportant banking category will be activated inboth host countries. Swisscom joined itscounterparts in Austria in backing EURO 2008and will provide essential telecommunicationssupport for the event.

Managing the UEFA marketing rights for theEuropean Football Championship often gives riseto difficulties that have to be turned into newbusiness opportunities. BenQ, the Taiwaneseelectronics company that acquired SiemensMobile, ran into financial difficulties and delicatenegotiations were required for them to leave theprogramme. UMMM took the opportunity to re-ignite Canon’s interest in the event (after a verysuccessful UEFA EURO 2004™, Canon’smanagement had decided to focus thecompany’s energies on product development inthe coming cycle). Canon acted quickly and tookBenQ’s position as the tenth global sponsor.

With BenQ’s departure, the “mobile handsets”category became available. By taking theinitiative with Swisscom and Telkom Austria,UMMM was able to secure additional revenuefrom these two National Supporters for the use of these rights and open the door to excellentpromotional activation by both in the host countries.

Sponsorship was not the only area in which newbusiness development occurred in the past year.For the first time, UEFA has entered into directagreements with retailers for the sale of officiallicensed products (OLP) for the EuropeanFootball Championship. Intersport (official OLPsports shop), the world’s largest sports retailer,and Manor (official OLP retailer) have bothannounced their involvement in the event.

Intersport have rights in a total of 24 countriesacross Europe and have made a minimum buyingcommitment of over EUR 10 million to UEFA.Manor will hold this title in Switzerland and haverecently been joined by Billa, who will be theofficial shop for licensed products in Austria. This brings to fruition a piece of strategicplanning that was first agreed some years ago,that to develop and grow the licensing business,it was necessary, in addition to good products, to ensure direct, strong links with retailers. The ambitious projections for this side of thebusiness are set to double UEFA’s revenue fromprevious tournaments and raise awareness of the European Football Championship to greater levels.

The first quarter of 2007 kicked off with a generalmeeting with the host cities focusing on themarketing guidelines and fan zones, and therehave been many others since. UMMM and Euro2008 SA have worked closely to present thenumerous opportunities open to the cities to beinvolved in the promotional and marketingprogrammes around the event. The relationshiphas not been an easy one to manage and theimportance of working in partnership with thecities has occasionally put a strain on theestablished sponsorship programme UMMMmust deliver to the partners. We continue to workclosely with Euro 2008 SA in this complex butvital area of the event.

Another area of collaboration with Euro 2008 SAhas been the hospitality programme. The strategywas put in place and the sales agency agreementwith IMG has been finalised. Sales have alreadycommenced and to date over EUR 95 million inorders has been received, showing once againthe popularity and financial importance ofhospitality and major football events.

68 69

UEFA Marketing and Media Management

2007 European Under-21Championship – Triumph ofthe NetherlandsThe Netherlands not only won this outstandingfestival of football; partners, local andinternational, poured their efforts into making themost of this “stars of the future” event. Over16,000 tickets were distributed to fans of all agesby sponsor promotions, helping to contributetowards the full stadiums everyone likes to enjoyat a match. For the first time for a national teamevent outside of the European FootballChampionship, UMMM convinced adidas tocreate a unique “official match ball” design. Oursports partner added two other firsts to this byrunning the ball boys programme and awardingan “adidas golden boot” – both normally onlyactivated for a European Football Championship.With excellent promotional support, all of thesponsors helped to increase the impact of atournament that clearly has as bright and bold afuture as some of the players that grace it.

The Way ForwardThe European Futsal Championship in Portugal isthe next event on the calendar for UMMM inNovember 2007 and several sponsorships arealready in place to help promote and raise theprofile of the indoor game.

The pace will really pick up in the comingmonths, with EURO 2008 just around the corner.Over 500 people have already attended theworkshops and management meetings organisedby UMMM. The challenge ahead will be toimplement the host city charters and to deliverthe fan zones and other promotions everyoneexpects to see at an event of the standing of aEuropean Football Championship final round. Anexciting year lies ahead for us, as we welcomethe football world to Austria and Switzerland andlook to deliver an even better programme thanfour years ago in Portugal.

“In the past year, important milestones were reached in the implementation of the UEFA EURO 2008™ project,including the mascot launch in September 2006, ticket sales in March and corporate hospitality sales in April 2007, and the “one year to go” event in June. The project is fully on track, but many more challenges still lie ahead.

“As for all the other UEFA competitions, the UEFA EventsUnit successfully implemented this season’s clubcompetition finals and youth tournaments.”

Euro 2008 SA Martin Kallen (Chief Operating Officer)

72 73

Euro 2008 SA

IntroductionThis year saw the fine-tuning of many conceptsand the transition to a development phase forUEFA EURO 2008™. The project managementapproach implemented helped with theunderstanding of interdependencies. The rapidgrowth of the Euro 2008 SA team as the finalround approaches was also a major challenge.

With the end of the FIFA World Cup, mediaexposure for EURO 2008 increased considerably.Additional visibility was gained from the start ofticket sales and hospitality packages, from thepresentation of the mascots, Trix and Flix, theslogan “Expect Emotions”, and the “one year to go” event. Along with the completion of thesponsor programme, merchandising activitiesincreased.

The relationship with public authorities continuedin good cooperation, ensuring consistentorganisational planning, and a major milestonewas reached with the signing of the host city charters.

The UEFA Events Unit successfully delivered theseason’s club competition finals, youth andamateur competitions, draws and UEFACongresses.

TicketingTicket sales were launched on 1 March 2007.Overall, the launch was successful and demandfor tickets was higher than expected. On the first day, ten times more ticket requests werereceived than during the first day of sales forEURO 2004 in Portugal, with total ticket requests reaching 10,359,177.

Different operational phases in the processfollowed: data cleansing (blacklist checks), draw process, confirmation of ticket requests andpayment processing. During this last stage,further analysis was made concerning potentialfraudulent ticket orders.

HospitalityFollowing an open invitation to tender forhospitality and catering services, IMG wasappointed as the exclusive agent for themarketing and sale of corporate hospitality for EURO 2008.

Corporate hospitality sales started in April 2007,once the exclusivity period for commercialaffiliates had been observed. Sales exceeded the initial projections and three months after thelaunch 65% had already been sold. It becameclear that the combination of product options,and price levels, were in line with marketexpectations.

Venue management andstadiumsThe beginning of regular site visits in October2006 facilitated discussions on the use offacilities and allocation of spaces for the differentoperational areas, ensuring the development ofdetailed stadium set-ups and on-site planning.Similarly, regular venue management workinggroup meetings allowed the coordination ofdifferent areas in and around the stadiums.

The capacities of both Salzburg and Innsbruckwere increased successfully, and many differentareas were observed during major matches heldat the EURO 2008 venues.

74 75

Euro 2008 SA

Public transportThe most significant measure in this area was theagreement to put in place a “combi-ticket”, i.e. aEURO 2008 match ticket which also acts as atravel pass for public transport networks in bothhost countries. An agreement has already beensigned in Switzerland and is in final negotiation in Austria.

Final drawThe Kultur-und Kongresszentrum in Lucerne(KKL) was selected as the venue for the finaldraw on 2 December 2007. The liveentertainment concept has also been completed.

Human resourcesDuring this financial year, the headcountincreased by 60, bringing the number of Euro 2008 SA employees to 119 by the end of June 2007.

UEFA Events UnitThe year started with the organisation of theEuropean club football season kick-off inMonaco. The remainder of the year wasdedicated to the successful organisation of otherfootball events, including the final rounds of theEuropean Under-17 (May), Under-19 (July) andUnder-21 (June) Championships, the EuropeanWomen’s Under-19 Championship (July), theUEFA Women’s Cup (May), the UEFA-CAFMeridian Cup (February-March), the UEFARegion’s Cup (June), and the UEFA Futsal Cup(April). The Events Unit was also involved in theorganisation of the XXXI UEFA Congress inDüsseldorf, as well as the UEFA Cup final inGlasgow and UEFA Champions League final inAthens, both in May 2007.

The unit was also active in the preparation of thedifferent draws for the UEFA competitions.Thanks to the integration of UEFA’s Events Unitinto Euro 2008 SA, synergy effects have been increasing.

Promotion and host cityrelationsThe host city charters were signed in January2007, the culmination of a long period ofnegotiation. Marketing guidelines were alsofinalised, defining the framework for all marketingaspects related to official fan zones. A fan zoneworking group was set up between UEFAMarketing and Media Management (UMMM) andEuro 2008 SA to work out the details.

To enhance awareness of the tournament,UEFA/Euro 2008 SA and the host cities agreed toa long-term dressing strategy that started on 7 June 2007, celebrating the “one year to go”.The host cities will continuously increase thenumber of flags in their city and build up a festive atmosphere.

Also on the occasion of "one-year-to-go",Euro 2008 SA organised a media and VIP eventat the top of the Jungfraujoch, at 3,454 metresabove sea level. The event was well received and media coverage was excellent.

As a promotional tool, unveiling ceremonies forthe countdown clocks in all eight host cities alsotook place on 7 June. The presence of themascots, involvement of UEFA sponsors andspeeches by UEFA, Euro 2008 SA and hostrepresentatives contributed to a successful event which received good media coverage.

During the year, cooperation agreements withboth the Austrian and the Swiss tourism boardsconcerning the promotion of the tournament andthe host countries were established.

Relations with publicauthoritiesThe bi-national coordination group (BIKO)initiated by the national project coordinators andthe Euro 2008 SA Management Board had itsfirst meeting at the end of 2006 and has heldregular meetings since then.

SignageThis year, ICON Display was appointed toproduce and manage all the signage for EURO2008. This company is also the supplier for otherUEFA competitions and supported by EUROTOPpartners*, so synergies will certainly spring fromthis partnership.

Team base campsThe team base camp brochure and bookingprocedure was finalised and distributed to UEFA’s member associations in January 2007.Reservations are progressing well and site visits have taken place.

VolunteersThe volunteer department in the tournamentoffice in Berne was set up and the volunteercampaign launch prepared.

* The EUROTOP programme marketing conceptoffers six top partners a comprehensiveintegrated rights package for UEFA EURO 2008and other top UEFA national team competitions.

76 77

Euro 2008 SA

The Way Forward

UEFA EURO 2008™

The main focus for the next financial year will bethe implementation of the different projects. Soon after the final draw in December 2007,the company will pick up speed and theintegration of the growing workforce andcoordination of activities will become critical.

Volunteers

Volunteer recruitment starts at the end of July 2007 with events in Zurich and Linz.Interviews start in September and the team isconfident of the successful recruitment of therequired 5,000 volunteers.

Final draw

A major milestone is the final draw in Lucerne.Final preparations are already under way, in closecoordination with the city. This will be the firstreal test in terms of the running of our operations,not to mention the fact that it will set the imageof the organisation of the tournament to come.

Venues

The opening of Zurich and Klagenfurt stadiums in September and Innsbruck in October 2007 willcomplete the construction and/or renovation ofall eight EURO 2008 venues. From then on, the venue operations teams will proceed with the implementation of all requirements for the final tournament.

On-site staffing

The decentralisation of staff to the differentvenues will start, in principle, in November 2007to monitor final stadium preparations. From thenon, coordination and communication channelswill have to be a well-oiled machine.

UEFA Events

The season kicks off in Monaco again and apartfrom the yearly UEFA competitions, the 2007/08season will also see the organisation of theEuropean Futsal Championship in Portugal.

“As usual, full details of the accounts are published in aseparate Financial Report. For 2006/07 these have beeninfluenced very positively by UEFA’s two flagship competitions.”

Finances Hanspeter Jenni

• In the first season of a new three-year cycle,the 2006/07 UEFA Champions Leagueaccounts disclose a very pleasing result, with a higher distribution to the 32 teams andhigher solidarity payments in favour of theEuropean football family.

• EURO 2008 has already left its mark in the balance sheet as at June 30 2007, with substantial advance payments fromEURO 2008 broadcasters and sponsors, as well as income from the first phase of theEURO 2008 ticket and hospitality-packagesales, increasing UEFA’s Cash & CashEquivalent position.

Good result for 2006/07The 2006/07 net result of EUR 38.82 million is considerably higher than thebudget approved by the 2006 UEFA Congress (EUR 10 million – equivalent toCHF 15.2 million).

An overview of UEFA’s finances is given on the following pages in the form of:

• an abbreviated consolidated income statement

• an abbreviated consolidated balance sheet

• EURO 2008 key figures

• UEFA Champions League key figures

• UEFA key figures

As already mentioned, full details, further information and additional chartsare provided in the separate 2006/07 Financial Report.

CHF 610 million moved into EURO Pool to finance HatTrick programme2006/07 is the last of the three financial years following EURO 2004 to be co-financed by income from this top national team competition. The tablebelow shows the amounts made available from EURO 2004 proceeds to finance future European football services and programmes, mainly in favour of the national associations:

UEFA’s financial reportingThe consolidated 2006/07 accounts are presentedin the same format as last year. The euro waschosen as the reporting currency because thelion’s share of UEFA’s revenue and, consequently,the distribution and solidarity payments arerecorded in Europe’s single currency.

Consolidated figuresAll figures published refer to UEFA and to theaccounts of UEFA’s affiliated and fully ownedcompanies, UEFA Media Technologies SA andEuro 2008 SA. These two affiliates operateexclusively for UEFA and neither generates anythird party income, except, in the case of Euro 2008 SA, for EURO 2008 ticket andhospitality-package sales, which will offset part ofits organisational costs. They both act as UEFAservice companies, meaning that all their yearlyexpenses are reimbursed by UEFA. All theseamounts are therefore reported within the sameaccounting structure as UEFA’s own.

Currency effectsThe Swiss franc remains UEFA’s official day-to-day accounting currency, as mosttransactions are recorded in the official currencyof the country where UEFA has its headquarters.

Since last year, UEFA has been using the euro asits reporting currency. This is more than logical,given that most of the contracts and,consequently, the distribution and the solidaritypayments related to UEFA’s top competitions arecalculated and made in euros. Furthermore, theeuro will soon be the official currency of roughlyhalf of UEFA’s member associations.

Financial Report 2006/07More details regarding financial matters, including accounting policies and theconsolidation principles, can be found in the2006/07 Financial Report, which forms an integral part of this report.

80 81

Finances

(all amounts in CHF millions) EURO Pool UEFA deferred earningsto finance the to co-finance the

HatTrick Scheme three financial years2004 - 2008 2004/05 - 2006/07

Credited in 2003/04 490 240

Swapped into Euro Poolfrom UEFA’s deferredearnings

• In 2005/06 +60 -60• In 2006/07 +60 -60

Finally credited over the610 120

2004 - 2008 period

Budgeted in 2003 400 200

Consolidated income statement 2006/07The 2006/07 net result of EUR 38.82 million isconsiderably higher than the budget (EUR 10million, equivalent to CHF 15.2 million) approvedby the 2006 UEFA Congress and is all the moresatisfying given that only EUR 36.3 million (CHF60m, instead of the budgeted CHF 100m) wasreversed from provisions to co-finance UEFA’smany activities.

Typically, the UEFA Champions Leagueperformed better than anticipated. For thesecond time in a row, this was also true of the UEFA Cup. The increase in the net result is,however, also partly due to lower expenses, for projects, to give just one example. During theyear under review, the strengthening of the euroagainst the Swiss franc has also left its traces.

Currency gains amounted to EUR 25.1 million,though, to a great extent, these were unrealised gains.

Given these good results, it was again possibleto transfer EUR 36.3 million (CHF 60 million) from“Deferred EURO 2004 Earnings” into the EUROPool to finance future HatTrick programmes infavour of the member associations.

An impressive total of EUR 156.1 million was made available for solidarity payments,compared with EUR 123.3 million the previous year.

2006 / 07 2005 / 06

Broadcast Revenue 810 759 511 628Commercial Rights Revenue 269 471 175 345Other Revenue 71 367 13 475

TOTAL REVENUE 1 151 597 700 448

Distribution to Participating Teams - 638 569 -450 831Other Event Expenses & Period Adjustment -372 674 -140 238

Total Event Expenses -1 011 243 -591 069

Gross Result 140 354 109 379

Total Personnel Expenses -40 833 -32 980Total Other Expenses -49 767 -37 752

Operating Result 49 754 38 647

Total Non-Operating Items 145 167 117 132Total Solidarity Payments -156 101 -123 351

NET RESULT 38 820 32 428

All amounts in 1000 EUR (KEUR)

Investment ProgrammeMini-PitchesEducationYearly Solidarity PaymentsReferee Convention

Transfer into EURO PoolLeagues (youth football development)Clubs (eliminated at first stage)

Details HatTrick Payments and Referee Conventionin KEUR

Details Solidarity Payments 2006/07in KEUR

Details UEFA Champions League Solidarityin KEUR

from UEFA Champions League86 831

from EURO Pool for HatTrick and Referee Convention

65 041

12 578

1 212

5 901

2 456

42 894

25 080 18 550

43 201

82 83

Finances

Total 123 351 - 2005/06

Other4 229

Total 156 101 - 2006/07

58 079

Other3 907

61 365

530

345

242

484

541

926

230

903

Assets LiabilitiesAmounts in KEUR

Tota

l 772

829

- 3

0 Ju

ne 2

006

Tota

l 30

June

200

7 -

941

993

Other Liabilities & Provisions

24 967

Net Result 2006/0738 820

Other Current Assets41 564

Other Financial Assets8 707

Liabilities685 804

CurrentLiabilities

660 837

Equity217 369

UEFA Equity256 189

Current Assets720 043

Cash & Cash Equivalents

678 479

Fixed Assets 221 950

Long-termSecurities

213 243

UEFA's UEFA'sBooks Financial Report

KCHF KEUR

Available as at 1 July 2006 464 400 296 486

UEFA Champions League solidarity payments in favour of associations (KEUR 18 550) 30 705

Transferred from EURO 2004 deferred earnings (no longer needed to co-finance UEFA's yearly activities) 60 000

Reversed to finance the 2006/07 HatTrick payments and the Referee Convention -105 026

Balance as at 30 June 2007 450 079 271 913

UEFA’s Balance Sheet Structure as at 30 June 2007 (2006 figures tinted)

Details of UEFA Equity

EURO Pool - Changes in 2006/07

The EURO Pool transactions for 2004-2008 continue to be entered in UEFA'sbooks in Swiss francs. However, as UEFA's financial report is published ineuros, the chart below shows both these currencies.

Consolidated balance sheet as at 30 June 2007The significant increase in the balance sheet total by EUR 169 million (or 22%in relative figures) to EUR 942 million is to be seen in connection with EURO2008 and is the result of advance payments received from broadcasters andsponsors, as well as the first payments for tickets and hospitality packages.This is reflected in the substantial increase in the Cash & Cash Equivalent position.

The most important changes on the liability side are:

• Firstly, for exactly the same reasons, theDeferred Income total of EUR 249 million(EUR 45m at the previous year-end) includesthe EURO 2008 accounts and represents thebalance of advance payments received andEURO 2008 organisational costs incurred asat the date of the balance sheet.

• Secondly, following the reversal of the lastportion of the EURO 2004 deferred earnings,Provisions now stand at EUR 22.7 million,compared with EUR 96.9 million twelvemonths ago.

UEFA’s equity now amounts to EUR 256.2 million(CHF 424 million).

84 85

Finances

30.06.2006Total 242 484 KEUR

Equity168 166

Retained Earnings / Translation Differences

41 890

Net Results 2005/0632 428

30.06.2007Total 256 189 KEUR

Equity168 166

Retained Earnings / Translation Differences

49 203

Net Results 2006/0738 820

86 87

Finances

UEFA EURO 2008™ When UEFA’s financial year closed, the start of EURO 2008 was only 343 days away. As already mentioned, this event, or to be precise, contractualpayments from EURO 2008 partners, have already had an impact on UEFA’s2006/07 accounts. The EURO 2008 financial transactions already entered asat 30 June are shown on this page.

It is, however, important to note that these transactions do not affect the2006/07 net result. As in previous years, UEFA has transferred the equivalentof the advance payments received, minus the expenses already incurred as at30 June 2007, into the Deferred Income balance sheet Liability position. Theequivalent of the Deferred Income will then be reversed in 2007/08. Likewise,the EURO 2008 result will be incorporated into the financial year during whichthe competition is held.

The chart below gives a breakdown of the EUR 249 million balance as at 30June 2007.

UEFA Champions League 2006/072006/07 was the first season of the new three-year contractual cycle but played accordingto the same format as the previous season.Given that most contracts have been concludedin euros and that the distribution to the 32 teams,as well as the solidarity payments, are calculatedand made in euros, it was decided last year thatthe UEFA Champions League statements wouldalso be issued in euros. This also allows a naturalhedging of the currency exposure, not only forUEFA, but also for the clubs, the majority ofwhich are in countries where the euro is theofficial currency.

The success of the UEFA Champions Leagueresult benefited all stakeholders. First andforemost, a considerable increase in thedistribution to the participating teams waspossible, as was an increase in the solidaritypayments. For the first time, part (EUR 8 million)of the surplus was distributed in the form of across-subsidy in favour of the 80 teams involvedin the first round of the UEFA Cup.

The results of the previous season are also shownin the chart below, for comparison purposes.

* This total includes the KEUR 12 645 in Euro 2008 SA costs which were capitalised and included in theProjects in Progress position in the balance sheet as at 30 June 2006.

625 079in KEUR 187 516 5 214 1 333 6 566 45 344 8 749 16 789 75 060 86 831 592 935

Source of Income Use of Income

Sp

ons

ors

/Sup

plie

rs

New

Med

ia R

ight

s

Tic

ketin

g S

hare

Fin

al

Oth

er In

com

e

Co

ntri

but

ion

to R

esul

t

Oth

er

New

Med

ia C

ost

s

Dire

ct E

vent

Exp

ense

s

So

lidar

ity

EU

R t

hous

and

s

Amounts:0

100200300400500600700

0800900

1 000

Dis

trib

utio

n to

Tea

ms

Bro

adca

ster

s

2006/07 actual 2005/06 actual(in EUR millions) (in EUR millions)

Total revenue for distribution (from broadcasters and 819 607sponsors/suppliers and new media rights)

Other income (e.g. ticketing final, currency effects) 7 2

Distributed to the 32 UEFA Champions League teams 585 437Cross-subsidy to 80 UEFA Cup teams 8

Solidarity payments 87 58

Event expenses 101 78

Contribution to UEFA’s gross result 45 36

EURO 2008 Deferred Income balance sheet position

2004/05 2005/06 2006/07

KCHF KCHF KEUR KEUR

Brought forward 0 907 585 45 076

EURO 2008 payments received 4 800 77 568 256 082

EURO 2008 expenses incurred -3 893 -7 618 * -52 188

Transfer of EURO 2008 expenses entered in 2003/04 (ex balance sheet position Projects in Progress) - 252

Balance as at 30 June 907 70 605 45 076 248 970

UEFA key figures

All amounts in EUR thousands (KEUR) 2006/07 2005/06

Cash FlowCash flow from operating activities 423 802 54 407Cash flow from investing activities 26 491 -20 917Cash flow from financing activities -156 101 -123 351

Change in net cash and cash equivalents 294 192 -89 861

AdministrationTotal UEFA administrative expenses 31 532 27 408

Financial ItemsTotal financial result 49 170 17 479

Number of EmployeesUEFA (unlimited contracts only) 187.3 183.5UEFA Media Technologies SA (unlimited contracts only) 54.7 53.0Euro 2008 SA (limited contracts) 103.0 46.0UEFA Apprentices & Trainees 4.0 2.5

Total (corresponding to full-time equivalents) 349.0 285.0

Number of matches organised by UEFAClub Competitions 637 659National Team Competitions (incl. Under-21) 267 273Women's Football (incl. Under-19) 296 345Futsal 148 69Youth Competitions (Under-17 & Under-19) 259 259Other Competitions (Regions' Cup & Meridian Cup) 75 0

Total 1 682 1 605

88 89

Finances

The way forward Compared with EURO 2004, the Finance Divisionis directly involved in the day-to-day eventaccounting for EURO 2008. This is due to thefact that the Euro 2008 SA accounts are kept inthis division and that EURO 2008 is taking placein Switzerland and Austria.

A huge number of transactions will have to bedealt with in 2007/08. Among other EURO 2008transactions, the sale of tickets and of hospitalitypackages, on the one hand, and the manyservices to be rendered and invoiced to theEURO 2008 broadcasters, on the other hand, will be a major challenge. Thousands of paymentswill have to be reconciled to make sure thattickets and hospitality packages, as well as hostbroadcast operations, are correctly processed.

On a more strategic front, we have to be ready intime for when new legislation comes into force inSwitzerland. Starting with the 2008/09 financialyear, our statutory auditors will, for the first time,have to evaluate UEFA’s internal control system,which will obviously include proper riskmanagement.

As described in previous reports, UEFA does nothave to start from scratch, as many initiatives arealready under way. There is a lot of administrativework still to be done, however, such asstandardising and documenting processes, not least to also make sure that all transactions in the books of UEFA, UEFA Media Technologiesand Euro 2008 SA are processed in astandardised way.

Our purchase order system (POS) is one of thekey tools for implementing an internal controlsystem. It ensures full conformity for handlingpurchases and the corresponding administrativework throughout UEFA. Not only is a budgetcomparison made at the beginning of theprocess, but exact data can also be provided oncommitted amounts, and it guarantees that thefour-eyes approval principle is respected at alltimes. Apart from vastly improving managementinformation, it also allows year-end-transactionsto be completed much faster.

In conclusion, it can be said that consolidationremains one of our key words for the future. After the successful financial consolidation, now comes the time to consolidate processesand procedures.

ImpressumEdited and produced by UEFA Media Services,Communications Division.

Photographs by:AFP, DOMENIC AQUILINA, Empics, Getty Images, Joe Pepler, PA Photos, Sportsfile, Woods.

Designed and printed by Works Ltd., Leeds, England.

Copyright UEFA. All UEFA names and logos areregistered trademarks of UEFA. All rights reserved.

90 91

Finances

Documents

UEFA ADMINISTRATION REPORT 2006/07 · The 2006/07 European football season was another busy and productive year for UEFA, both on and off the pitch. Football competitions remain at