Why a second organ? The UEC believes that the ECA does not go far enough in its concern for egalitarianism, even if the latter has always said it is opposed to the Super League carried by A22, a project that the UEC also firmly rejects. “The UEC wants to improve support for professional clubs that do not belong to the elite divisions. All professional clubs should have a voice in the European football ecosystem”estimates the UEC.
The Union excluded from the ECA
At the end of 2023, a few months after its creation, around thirty clubs from the English lower divisions had joined the UEC, including Wimbledon, Burnley, Bristol Rovers, thus joining the Union, but also Osasuna, Real Valladolid, FC Eindhoven and Lokomotiv Zagreb. In theory, the clubs playing the European Cup are members of the ECA, which UEFA recognizes… and cannot be members of another organization. Its membership in the UEC had earned the Union Saint-Gilloise the opportunity to learn in the summer of 2023 that she was de facto ejected from the ECA. If this is the price to pay for a more egalitarian football where wealth is better distributed, then we will pay it, we responded in substance to the Union.
The UEC is entitled to formal recognition from UEFA.
This Wednesday, April 24, Alex Muzio was rewarded for this commitment by being elected first president of the UEC during the organization's first general assembly. “The UEC has grown incredibly in one year to reach 141 members,” he rejoices. “Clubs have recognized his commitment to true one club/one vote representation, regardless of size. This General Assembly which has a diversity of clubs represented in the Board of Directors gives the UEC every right to knock on the door of UEFA for formal recognition. I am delighted to have been elected President and look forward to the journey ahead.” The future will tell what weight this body will play in the evolution of European football threatened by dissident projects.
