European Commission - Announcement

European Commission and UEFA strengthen partnership with new

cooperation agreement up to 2025
Brussels, 6 October 2022
Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas and UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin renewed today
at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels the EC-UEFA Arrangement for Cooperation
first entered into in 2014.This latest institutional accord takes the partnership between the European
Commission and UEFA to new levels, focussing on Europe's priority challenges and providing a
roadmap for joint efforts up to 2025.
Structured around key EU priorities such as climate action, equality for all and social inclusion, the
agreement marks an intensification of the long-standing collaboration between the European
Commission, UEFA and national European football associations towards using European football as a
force for positive change across Europe.
The European Commission recognises the huge reach and potential of UEFA's pan-European events
as moments of European unity promoting the European way of life and celebrating its cultural
diversity. Joint efforts in this regard will be intensified across relevant UEFA events and competitions,
in particular the flagship Men's and Women's UEFA Champions League and UEFA European
Championships including a strategic focus on Men's EURO 2024 in Germany and Women's EURO
2025.
At the heart of the agreement is a joint commitment to promoting solidarity between different levels
in sport, in particular between professional and grassroots football, the ongoing development of the
women's game, fairness, integrity, financial sustainability, competitive balance, gender equality and
good governance. The Commission emphasise UEFA's central responsibility as the governing body of
European football and agrees on the importance of fans and other stakeholders in discussions,
including via the UEFA-led Convention on the Future of European Football.
The agreement explicitly reaffirms the Commission and UEFA's resolve to protect and strengthen the
European Sport Model, based on European values, solidarity between elite and grassroots levels,
sporting merit, an open system of promotion and relegation and the protection of the physical and
moral integrity of sportsmen and sportswomen. In so doing, the agreement advances the public
policy direction set by the European Parliament and EU member states (Council of the EU) in
landmark resolutions last year.
Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas said: “Europe's core principle is solidarity. UEFA and
the European Commission will ensure that UEFA's competitions remain a success story embedded in
our European Sport Model. This is a unique partnership: We will keep working within the existing
structures and framework in full alignment with European objectives towards serving and bringing
together European society and citizens.”
Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: “This
Arrangement for Cooperation represents a new step in our long-standing cooperation in the field of
sport. UEFA is an important partner to promote our initiatives in sport related notably
to HealthyLifestyle4All, inclusiveness, mental health, fairness and gender equality. Sport, and
particularly football, is an efficient platform to reach our youth and all European citizens, raising
awareness on our European values.”
Welcoming the Agreement as demonstration of the enduring strength of partnership between the
European bodies, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin commented, “These last years have been an
intense period of cooperation between UEFA and our EU partners facing generational challenges to
the European way of life and our European sport model. As this agreement signals, our partnership -
based on decades of trust and open relations - is stronger than ever and we have a roadmap to
develop ambitiously into the future together for the benefit of all."
AC/22/6010