Football's social dialogue

Main groups
The European Social Dialogue Committee for professional football is made up of the main groups comprising players and clubs on a European level - the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) and the European Club Association (ECA) representing clubs (employers) and FIFPro Europe representing players (employees), in addition to UEFA as the governing body of European football.

Close work with Strategy Council
The committee will work closely with the Professional Football Strategy Council, which was created last year to modernise UEFA's governance structures by involving the different stakeholders in the decision-making process. The council comprises elected representatives of associations, clubs, leagues and players.

Important day
The different groups involved in the European social dialogue in football have chosen the UEFA President Michel Platini to chair the committee. "This is an important day for European football – in football, where there is no dialogue, it often leads to conflict," said Mr Platini. "The European Social Dialogue Committee for professional football should help to improve understanding between European football and the EU on employment issues. I am very happy that professional football in Europe will finally speak to the EU in a co-ordinated way on labour matters."

'Symbolic date'
On behalf of EPFL, Frédéric Thiriez, who was elected as vice-president of the committee for next year, added: "1 July 2008 is a highly symbolic date for the signature of the Social Dialogue in European football, because it corresponds to the start of the French Presidency of the EU - which should bring a citizens' Europe closer. The launch of the Social Dialogue is a good example of what Europe can do to improve the daily life of people."

Legal security
Philippe Piat, President of FIFPro Europe – an association of national player unions with around 28,000 players as members – said: "The Social Dialogue in European football will help to achieve better legal security because, when the partners are in agreement and all groups are taken into account, decisions have much more force."

Active part
Umberto Gandini of the ECA – an association of over 103 clubs comprising the top clubs by sporting performance in each European country –
commented: "The ECA is very happy to be present as a partner in this very important process, and is looking forward to taking an active part in the dialogue."

Meeting attendees
Those attending the meeting included: Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros (EPFL); Jean-Michel Aulas (ECA); Ján Figel' (EU Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth); Frédéric Thiriez (EPFL); Umberto Gandini (ECA); Vladimír Špidla (EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities); Philippe Piat (FIFPro Europe) and Gianni Infantino (UEFA).