Fans' group in the pipeline

London congress
Fans from throughout Europe met at Arsenal FC's stadium on Sunday for the inaugural European Football Fans' Congress, organised by the Football Supporters International (FSI) network. More than 250 delegates, representing over one million supporters across the continent from 27 countries registered for the event, which received UEFA's support.

National groups
The congress came in the wake of a call by both supporters' groups and UEFA for national supporter groups to create a coherent pan-European independent organisation in order to improve communication channels with European football's governing body. UEFA recently held a first meeting with national supporter groups with discussions focusing on issues such as club licensing and ownership, safety and security and ticketing. Click here for more details.

Common issues
Following UEFA EURO 2008™ in Austria and Switzerland, at which UEFA welcomed the generally positive atmosphere among fans, the London meeting helped identify supporters' common issues and gathered a variety of opinions as part of moves to form an independent European network of fans. EURO experiences, fan culture, policing, anti-discrimination, ticketing, club ownership were all on the agenda.

'Genuine dialogue'
FSI ran fan services at UEFA EURO 2008™, giving help and information to supporters from all over the continent. "The football authorities and many public institutions in many countries have begun to consider football supporters as an essential part of the game and are seeking to establish a genuine dialogue," said FSI.

'International network'
"FSI has been an independent union of various fan-related organisations that have provided and developed support services for football supporters travelling abroad for more than 15 years," it added. "We now want to work towards the establishment of an international network of football supporters that could protect and represent their interests on a European level."