I wonder whether this relates to the fact that the G14 teams are struggling to get in fairly? Of the 18 teams that made up that elitist cabal, United, Liverpool, AC Milan, Inter, Valencia, Marseille, Lyon and Leverkuson currently stand to miss out on their cash.
There is no such thing as the G14. It was replaced by the European Club Association in 2008. It started with 16 clubs has over a 100 clubs as ordinary members and over a 100 as associate members. As with the CL, the better a countries coefficient the more ordinary members it gets. Thus, Spain, Germany and England get 5. Given that we are one of the ordinary members from England along with Arsenal, Chelsea, Utd and Tottenham, we are definitely part of the 'club'. I hope this doesn't mean we will become supportive of their corrupt, crackpot schemes but I suspect that we will. Now, given its 'mission statement', which is split into 4 sections I thought their continued attack on City somewhat baffling. Then I looked at make up of the various work-streams (their name not mine) and their executive board membership and it starts to get a little clearer. Not only that but the ordinary members from a country is made up of the five highest ranked clubs which seemed fair enough. However, I then discover that England have 6 due to a 'new rule' recently brought in.
Since the 2015/16 season, ECA execptionally counts 106 Ordinary Members. Liverpool FC is granted Ordinary Membership by the ECA Statutes as it won more than five international cups in its history. This effectively grants some teams perpetual membership, assuming they don't get relegated!
Make of the following what you will.
The European Club Association counts five different working groups, which each deal with one of the following topics: Competitions, Finance, Institutional Relations, Marketing & Communication and Youth.
Chairman of competitions is from AC Milan and the two English reps are John Alexander from Utd and Buck from Chelsea!
Jorge Chumillas, from City, sits on the finance group. Woodward chairs the Marketing Group with a vice chairman from Munich.
The ECA vision and mission statements are as follows.
Our Vision: The European Club Association is the sole, independent body directly representing football clubs at European level. It is the authoritative, independent voice of European club football, the lifeblood of the European game.
Our Mission: ECA exists to protect and promote European club football. Its aim is to create a new, more democratic governance model that truly reflects the key role of the clubs. ECA will act to strengthen each of the clubs for the benefit of all and to ensure that club football is recognised by decision-makers as the most direct link to the fans and their communities.
Who we are:
- We are the nuclear family of the football society
- We are competitive friends
- We want to make things simple and communicate directly about issues
- We are constructive and challenging
- We live the daily life of football as a sport and as a business
Who we are to the clubs:
- We are the only association that directly represents their voice, understands their issues and looks after their rights and interests at the highest levels
- We offer them access to best practice and knowledge from over 200 European clubs
- We speak coherently and we deliver results
The Executive Board is as follows;
Chairman: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | FC Bayern München (GER)
1st Vice-Chairman: Umberto Gandini | AC Milan (ITA)
2nd Vice-Chairman: Pedro López Jiménez | Real Madrid CF (ESP)
3rd Vice-Chairman: Evgeni Giner | PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS)
Executive Board Members:
- Ivan Gazidis | Arsenal FC (ENG)
- Edward Woodward | Manchester United FC (ENG)
- Josep Maria Bartomeu | FC Barcelona (ESP)
- Andrea Agnelli | Juventus (ITA)
- Jean-Michel Aulas | Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
- Edwin Van der Sar | AFC Ajax (NED)
- Michael Verschueren | RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
- Theodoros Giannikos | Olympiacos FC (GRE)
- Dariusz Mioduski | Legia Warszawa SA (POL)
- Peter Lawwell | Celtic FC (SCO)
- Aki Riihilahti | HJK Helsinki (FIN)
