European clubs standards raise

UEFA's club licensing operation, which began in 2003, has raised standards in the European clubs.

The club licensing goals were to establish targets for sporting infrastructure, personnel, administration, legal and financial aspects. All must be met if the club hopes to make a UEFA competition.

The rules cover 53 national associations.

"Four years ago, the differences between the associations were remarkable," Sprengers told uefa.com. "There were associations that were already being run very professionally and there were others that had only existed for a couple of years and lacked experience. But every association has taken licensing very seriously and everybody has been amazed at how efficiently the system is working.

"For 50 percent of the national associations, this licensing system was something completely new. They had to recruit new staff to specialise in finance and administration, and adapt their organisation. But they have helped each other, they have shown co-operation and solidarity. As a result of this united effort, minimum standards have been raised throughout Europe."

Sprengers added that he wanted to ensure competition was fair. For example, if a club had a successful core group on the pitch, but had gone into excessive debt to field that roster, he felt that was an unfair edge.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.