Club lobby: How the ECA expanded its power

No interest group in European football is as powerful as the ECA – it has expanded its influence over the years.

The European Club Association (ECA) re-elects large parts of its board at its general assembly in Berlin on Wednesday (September 6th, 2023) and on Thursday. The ECA has shaped the development of European football over the years, bringing greater influence and revenue to its key members.

Ex-UEFA marketer: The Super League threat gave big clubs their advantages

“Everything that has been given to the big clubs in recent years is built around one theme: great league“says William Martucci. The 31-year-old used to work for TEAM, UEFA’s marketing agency. Martucci sold the TV rights to TEAM Champions League to the broadcasters. Today he is the director of the new organization Union of European Clubs (UEC), which wants to counterbalance the ECA with a voice for smaller clubs.

“The biggest clubs have always threatened the Super League”, says Martucci. This is how the power of the ECA was built. “Everyone else involved, such as leagues, smaller clubs and even UEFA, have always given in to the threats of change.” And these changes have a long-term effect.

Money, starting places and mode – a conversion in the spirit of the biggest

It was always about three issues with the changes in the European Cup: the distribution of the starting places, the mode and the distribution of the money. Renovation measures have been carried out in all three areas in recent years:

Constant qualification, secured cash flows – the measures protect the clubs against sporting risks and ensure corporate security. “Things have always been going in the same direction for 30 years”criticizes Martucci. “The goal has always been to make European competitions more financially lucrative, but especially for the biggest clubs.”

Small clubs and national leagues suffer

European football is feeling the effects of this right down to the national leagues. “The money distribution fuels the financial differences in European football”said Jacco Swart the sports show in March. Swart is the managing director of European Leagues, an association of national leagues in Europe. The German Football League (DFL) is also represented there. “These clubs then use that money to invest in players for domestic competitions as well. It’s a snowball effect, these clubs keep getting bigger. It distorts domestic competitions.”according to Swart.

This is noticeable in the Bundesliga: In the 2020/21 season, VfL Bochum received 32 million euros from the DFL, FC Bayern Munich 88 million. On top of that came 110 million euros from the Champions League, and there are big differences in the income from ticket sales, fan articles, transfer income or sponsorship. That dimension in revenue disparity is there every year, and has made the gap between the big guys and the rest so wide that it’s almost impossible to close. The result is serial champions like FC Bayern in Germany. A narrowed title fight on one or a few clubs has long since become a European phenomenon.

“Domestic leagues are becoming more and more predictable, which also reduces their commercial value”, Swart said. The association of the leagues is therefore demanding more money from UEFA for clubs that do not take part in the European Cup. So far it is four percent of the total income. But that’s not enough to really reduce differences. According to information from the sports show, the ECA is currently planning at least concessions. On Wednesday (September 6th, 2023) it is to be announced that there will be more money for clubs that do not take part in the European Cup. The importance of the ten-year coefficient should at least be reduced.

The fight for the TV money – the competitions cannibalize itself

The market for money from television broadcasters and streaming services is highly competitive. UEFA will sell the new European Cup from 2024 at a much higher price than before, and FIFA will soon be offering the Club World Cup, with 32 strong teams, an expensive and valuable broadcasting right. In turn, this money will be distributed primarily to the big clubs and there will be a lack of TV stations to put it into national competitions such as the Bundesliga or the DFB Cup – it is a cannibalization of the competitions.

In a power struggle with FIFA, UEFA successfully blocked some of FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plans. However, they supported the enlarged Club World Cup, in which twelve top European teams also play, because Europe’s most important clubs benefit financially from it. The ECA, which is financed by UEFA, recently also made a point of trying to get closer to FIFA and, like UEFA, signed a basic agreement with the world association. If the ECA experienced its greatest crisis in 2021, when twelve of its members left the common table when the Super League was founded in 2021, its importance is again as great as before.

ECA boss Al-Khelaifi – criticism of conflicts of interest

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the President of Paris Saint Germain, assisted UEFA and President Aleksander Ceferin in the Super League crisis. He rose to become ECA chairman with a seat on the UEFA Executive Committee. He is also a member of the board of directors of the UEFA subsidiary “UEFA Club Competitions SA”which sells the TV rights to the Champions League.

ECA boss Al-Khelaifi has repeatedly been criticized for possible conflicts of interest because he is also the managing director of the Qatari sports broadcaster beIN Sports, which buys TV rights from UEFA. “He wears many hats”said Spain’s league boss Javier Tebas 2022, a kind of intimate enemy of Al-Khelaifi for years. “There are too many conflicts of interest – and that shouldn’t be.”

ECA defends itself: “We as the elite are killing football? What nonsense!”

However, the big clubs’ arguments go beyond threats against the Super League. They also say: The big brands among the clubs drive the worldwide interest in the games in Europe and thus also provide the income from which all clubs ultimately benefit. ECA Managing Director Charlie Marshall defends itself against the often drawn picture of his organization. “The ECA is portrayed as a malicious elite killing football. What nonsense”he wrote in a guest post for the British newspaper Guardians.

Referring to the Union of European Clubs organization, he added that some fairly large clubs are now selling themselves as “small” in order to portray themselves as victims of a “so-called elite”. The ECA describes itself as “open and democratic”. Most recently, the ECA opened up to numerous smaller clubs, which can now become “network members” without voting rights. Marshall also pointed out that clubs like HJK Helsinki, young boys Bern or Legia Warsaw are represented on the ECA board.

But access to the decision-making level is reserved for a small circle. Half of the members on the ECA board come from the six most important leagues in Europe. In addition, only clubs that are permanently successful in Europe can become full and voting members of the ECA. Once again, the ECA has a major say in the future distribution of money in the European Cup – it will continue to shape European football.