Developing football's infrastructure

According to its Statutes, UEFA is responsible for promoting football in Europe, a task which requires not only a suitable structure and specific expertise, but financial resources as well.

Competition income
UEFA draws most of its income from two of its competitions: the UEFA European Championship and the UEFA Champions League. It is only fair that the participants in these two competitions should benefit most from the income they generate. For example, the clubs involved in the 2002/03 Champions League shared more than €530m between them; the 16 participants at UEFA EURO 2004™ in Portugal will receive a total of €130m in prize money.

Solidarity principle
In accordance with the solidarity principle adopted by UEFA, money from these competitions also helps the other national associations, leagues and clubs. As far as the national associations are concerned, UEFA's primary concern has been to help those with the most urgent need, with funds poured into the East European Assistance Bureau (EEAB) between 1994 and 2003. In 2000, an additional programme was launched, this time open to all member associations: the Kiosk programme provided assistance to enable them to carry out specific projects.

Association assistance
Delegates at the 2003 Rome Congress were informed about a new programme, HatTrick, also aimed at all the national associations and replacing both the EEAB and Kiosk. This programme was launched in August 2003 and will run until 2008. It aims to assist UEFA's member associations with the funding of projects designed to develop and improve football infrastructures in general.

Financial support
HatTrick has three main elements:
- direct financial support in the form of one-off grants
- payments for the construction of mini-pitches as part of the UEFA Golden Jubilee celebrations
- assistance with training

Enhancing infrastructure
Each association is entitled to a one-off grant of up to €1.6m. In order to apply, the association must submit to UEFA a project involving stadium construction or renovation, pitch installation or the development of training centres or administrative offices for the association; in short, any project designed to enhance football infrastructures. In principle, these projects should be new, since projects that have already been completed and paid for cannot be funded retroactively. If they are worth less than €1.6m, the national association concerned may submit up to five projects in all.

HatTrick Board
Once they have been examined by the UEFA administration's Assistance Programmes Unit, the projects are submitted for approval to the HatTrick Board, which comprises three Executive Committee members (chairman Mathieu Sprengers, Marios Lefkaritis and Geoffrey Thompson) and three UEFA directors.

Projects approved
If approved, the project can be launched under the supervision of the Assistance Programmes Unit. UEFA may transfer the funds in one go or in several instalments, depending on the nature of the project. It always gives the money to the national association rather than to the companies carrying out the work or suppliers. By the end of February, projects from eight associations had been approved.

This article originally appeared in the official UEFA publication uefadirect.