Executive Committee to focus on football finances

UEFA's latest club licensing benchmarking report on European club football is one of the key items on the agenda when its Executive Committee, chaired by UEFA President Michel Platini, convenes at the governing body's Swiss headquarters on Tuesday and Wednesday for its first meeting of 2012.

The benchmarking report looks at European clubs' financial management and other related issues at a time when UEFA's financial fair play measures and regulations are being implemented to bring greater financial stability to club football in Europe and to curb financial excesses that have put a number of teams in difficulty in recent times.

Following the Executive Committee's examination of the benchmarking report, it will then be presented on Wednesday during a UEFA financial fair play media day, also being staged in Nyon. An overview of the trends in European club football, based on the information contained in the report, will be presented, highlighting the health of the continent's clubs based on the financial figures from 2010. Important milestones and principles of financial fair play will also be explained along with an update on the implementation of the financial fair play measures.

Europe's football parliament, the UEFA Congress, meets once a year, with UEFA's 53 member national associations voting on and discussing various important European footballing matters. This year's XXXVI Ordinary UEFA Congress takes place in Istanbul, Turkey, on 22 March, and the Executive Committee will be asked at its meeting to approve the Congress programme and agenda, including honours and awards to be made.

The hosts of the 2012 UEFA Futsal Cup finals will also be chosen by the Executive Committee, which, in addition, will debate questions relating to the format, calendar and age categories for the UEFA European Under-17, U19 and U21 Championships.

Nineteen committees in total are responsible for helping to shape UEFA's policies and overall vision, ranging from medical issues and players' status/transfers to refereeing, finance and the UEFA competitions. The committees submit the results of their deliberations to the Executive Committee. Several committees have met recently, and the Executive Committee will hear their advice, proposals and recommendations on a number of topics.

The UEFA Executive Committee's next meeting after Nyon will be in Istanbul on 20 and 21 March, ahead of the XXXVI Ordinary UEFA Congress.