Fans were invited to take part in a major review of European football launched by the EU. The dedicated website for the review is at Football Review . Responses were required before March 13 2006.
A key task of the review was to consider how to implement the Declaration on the Specific Charactersitics of Sport attached to the 2000 Treaty of Nice. This calls on member states of the EU to 'take account of the social, educational and cultural functions inherent in sport.' The subtext was a conflict between the EU and Europe's top clubs about how far football should be exempt from the application of competition law. During the UK presidency the country's sports minister convened a meeting in Leipzig of the sports ministers from the top European football countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain along with the UK) as well as Fifa and Uefa to discuss the governance of European football. This led to the current review which is to completed by June and is headed by lawyer and Portuguese MP José Luis Arnaut. As a former sports minister in Portugal, he was responsble for the government side of the organisation of the 2004 European football championships.
The main agenda items for the review were:
How football can play a more significant role in improving social inclusion and healthy lifestyles
Club financing and the feasibility of overall salary caps at clubs
Regulation of agents
Locally trained players (compensation for clubs when they move on)
Ownership of football clubs
Distribution of revenue within football
Protection against match fixing and corruption
Protection of minors
Richard Caborn commented, 'There's no doubt in my mind that it is time for the game to take bold steps towards better governance and a Europe-wide solution is the only answer.'
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