The Union Of European Clubs Joins The Battle For The Soul Of European Soccer

With a few striking numbers, the executive director of Lokomotiva Zagreb Dennis Gudasic summarized inequality in European soccer. “In the last years, Uefa has distributed 22 billion in revenue and twelve clubs received 34%,” explained Gudasic.“Eleven billion is received by 24 clubs. This is keeping those clubs at the level where they are. Paris Saint-Germain earns what is distributed to 600 clubs in Europe. Even slight adjustments would provide so many benefits to clubs. We have to value sporting results and merit more, the system isn’t good.”

In the shadow of crosstown powerhouse Dinamo Zagreb, Gudasic and his club have never won the Croatian league but they first participated in European competition in the 2012-13 season exiting the qualifiers of the Europa League in anti-climatic fashion against Belarus’s Dinamo Minsk. They have never reached the group stage of a main competition. As such, Zagreb remains on the fringes of the European game, institutionally as well. The European Club Association (ECA) denied the club membership of the umbrella organization.

On Monday, Gudasic as well as lawyers Katarina Pijetlovic and Gareth Farrelly launched the Union of European Clubs (UEC), a new body that seeks its constituency among Europe’s small and mid-sized clubs across to continent to counterbalance but not fight the ECA. The establishment of the UEC is the latest episode in the battle for the soul of European soccer, transformed by both the financial power of the Premier League through oligarchs, American capital and nation states from the Gulf, and the riches of the Champions League.

The game is rife with tensions between the haves and the have-nots. The divide threatens to undermine the quintessence of the game: its unpredictability and meritocracy. The European Super League debacle showed its backers one thing – there is still some resistance out there. Those who want to reshape the European game haven’t given up. They still dream of a Super League and unprecedented revenues. At the institutional level, the ECA has enacted some governance changes and sought to expand in what was perceived as a direct move to counter the launch of the UEC.

UEC, indeed, will have a difficult time carving out a space in the European landscape. The union wants ‘to fill the governance gap in European football’, appealing to around 1400 clubs that don’t qualify for European competitions but do not have a voice in continental decision-making.“It is crucial that small and medium-sized clubs gain a voice,” said Gudasic. “Over the past decades, football has become increasingly a game of the elite, this trend needs to be reversed or the beautiful game will suffer irreparable harm.”

His voice was lent support by clubs. “We need a different voice,” said Crystal Palace’s Steve Parish, pointing out that his club had spent a record 40 million euros on transfers which ultimately was the lowest outlay in the Premier League. “We aren’t represented anywhere at the European level,” said Parish.

“We see beautiful stories all the time but it feels like there is an attempt to stamp those stories out. It feels like any aspiration is very much frowned upon, belittled. They love this term ‘small club’ but I think we have to stop using it about ourselves. I don’t consider myself a small club – I consider myself a club that is trying to aspire to get into Europe and to win things. I don’t know all the answers but I think we need a different voice.”

Palace, Aston Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford from the Premier League as well as Championship side Watford showed interest in the UEC.

A protege of Tony Bloom, Union Saint-Gilloise president Alex Muzio expressed concern about soccer’s general direction. He said: “Twenty years ago, small and medium clubs were talked about as provincial. Today when you talk about small and medium you are essentially talking about clubs that are not the biggest in the world – that doesn’t make sense.”

UEC markets itself as the voice of the small clubs, but the ECA claims that it’s the sole representative of all the clubs in the current system. In reality, just 109 clubs have the right to vote in the ECA. La Liga boss Javier Tebas accused ECA of “destructuring” the game. He said: “I am fed up with hearing that the ECA represents the European clubs. It represents the elite clubs in Europe. We try to defend solidarity but that is not just 10% off the clubs. It has to be everyone. Is the ECA open? Not to vote and not for decision-making.

Ultimately, the UEC is but a new part of the complex puzzle of European soccer. The power struggles between the clubs as well as the governing bodies and other stakeholders have reached the European Court of Justice which will soon deliver an answer to the question of whether Uefa retains the right to be both a regulator and organizer of European competitions. A22, who want to establish the Super League, are challenging Uefa’s monopoly.

Perhaps, it was Parish who summed it up best pointing at the conflict of interest in the game, in particular at bodies like Uefa and Fifa. He concluded: “The whole governance needs to be looked at. Although none of us likes the concept of the Super League, I do believe there needs to be a bigger separation of church and state. The people organizing the tournaments and the people regulating need to be two different people.”