Last chance for fan feedback

Tomorrow is the deadline for football fans and other stakeholders to provide input for the high-level independent review of European football.

Arnaut chairman
The review is being chaired by José Luis Arnaut, a former senior minister within the Portuguese government, and has been officially launched by him in tandem with United Kingdom sports minister Richard Caborn and UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson. The review also has a special website in which football fans and interested bodies are entitled to make contributions to the debate. Click here to enter the website.

Public hearing deadline
Interested parties can register until tomorrow via consultation@independentfootballreview.com for the public hearing to take place in Brussels on 29 March.

UK initiated
The review was initiated last year under the auspices of the UK Presidency of the European Union, and is centring on how the European football authorities, EU institutions and member states can best implement the 2000 Nice Declaration on the specific characteristics of sport at a European and national level. In the declaration, European governments call on EU member nations to take account of sport's social, educational and cultural functions.

Expert reports
Legal, political and financial experts will report on the central role of the football authorities to govern football in harmony with the EU institutions and member states. They will also examine areas such as ownership/control and management of clubs, clubs' expenditure on players, player agent activities, revenue distribution in the European game, protection of football against match-fixing and corruption, and the role of the EU institutions, member states and football authorities in supporting and encouraging investment in football.

Beginning of June
World football's governing body FIFA and European sports ministers will be involved in an advisory role. Conclusions and recommendations will be presented to UEFA, the European Commission and sports ministers across Europe, with a report scheduled for issue at the beginning of June.

Full UEFA backing
UEFA is giving its full support to the review. "The timing is perfect," said UEFA CEO Olsson. "[UEFA] is trying to correct some of the difficulties that we have had in European football. We have introduced our club licensing scheme, we have a programme on locally-trained players, player agent activities are being reviewed, and we also have the UEFA coaching convention and the new Grassroots Charter.

'Unique initiative'
"This common initiative is unique - it means the European Commission, the authorities and the football bodies can work together to look into regulations and legislation. We need certainty to be able to address problem areas, and it is clear we must work together, otherwise we will never be successful in defining action for the future," he added.

Need for transparency
Mr Olsson said the governance of clubs, associations and leagues around Europe was a key issue. "We need to be transparent and have proper distribution models," he explained. "We must have a system where we can support those who have less, and we welcome the opportunity to have open talks on how things are organised in football."