U.E.F.A.
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²SOME    FACTS ABOUT U.E.F.A.
(Union   of  European 
Football Associations)
³By      Genesis Project / Paralax.

¹UEFA,  the European Football Union, or
to give it its full and official name,
the   Union   of   European   Football
Associations  - was founded during the
1954  World Cup Finals in Switzerland.
At that time, 25 National Associations
formed  the  original  UEFA; today the
number   is   35.   The  organizations
objectives  are  clear:   to deal with
all  questions  concerning football in
Europe,  to strengthen the development
of  friendly sporting contacts between
member  Associations, to protect their
interests  and  to promote the game of
football    in    Europe    regardless
ofdifferences  in  religion,  race  or
politics.

All 35 National Associations in Europe
are affiliated to UEFA; they represent
over  170,000  clubs,  600,000  teams,
more   than  20  million  players  and
400,000  referees.   From  Iceland  to
Turkey, the CIS to Portugal, Norway to
Malta,  all  the footballers of Europe
are   gathered  together  in  one  big
footballing  family,  making  UEFA the
largest       single       continental
confederation within the International
Football Federation, FIFA.

The   UEFA  legislative  body  is  the
biennial   Congress,   at  which  each
member  Association  has  equal voting
rights.    The   Congress   elects   a
¶¹President  and  eleven  members to the
Executive  Committee,  as  the body to
carry  out  UEFA policy.  In the event
of  urgent  businesss  arising between
scheduled  meetings  of the Executive,
there   is   a   four  member  special
Emergency  Committee,  with  the  same
competences  as  the Executive itself.
In  acordance  with  the  principle of
seperation of powers, there is also an
independant  judicial authority in the
form  of  the Control and Disciplinary
Committee and the Board of Appeal.

To tackle the various tasks with which
it  is faced, UEFA draws upon a number
of    specialized    and    organizing
committees, appointed by the Executive
and  containing  representatives  from
practically       all       affiliated
Associations.   These  committees deal
with  football  from every conceivable
angle,      from     more     general,
organizational and technical questions
to  legal  and  educational aspects of
the  game.   UEFA,  as the controlling
authority  in  European  football,  in
concerned  not  just  with the game as
such  but  also  has to make sure that
the sport remains competitive.

UEFA's   tasks  also  include  overall
responsibility  for  womens  football,
the   promotion   of  the  game  among
younger  players,  and  an  attempt to
co-ordinate   the  various  views  and
opinions of the member Associations on
verious   football  problems  so  that
European  football  can speak with one
voice on the international scene.
¶¹UEFA  is also responsible for a number
of  regular  competitions for European
club  and  national teams.  Every year
there  are three major tournaments for
clubs:   the  European Champion Clubs'
Cup   (aka   the  European  Cup),  the
European  Cup  Winners'  Cup,  and the
UEFA  Cup,  the  latter contested by a
specific number of teams which qualify
for  the competition by finishing high
up in their national league tables.

The  most  important  competition  for
national  representative  teams is the
European  Football  Championship, held
every   four  years  and  the  world's
second most important tournament after
the   World   Cup.   Parallel  to  the
European  Championship or to the World
Cup  is the biennial European Under-21
Championship,   while   the   European
A-Youth   Championship  is  also  held
every   two  years  for  the  Under-18
age-group,  and  the Eurpoean Under-16
Competition  is  played  annually.   A
European Women's Championship has also
been  introduced.   This is held every
two years.

The   overall  administration  of  the
European Football Union is acomplished
by  a  General Secretariat which spent
its  early years under the auspices of
the  French  Football  Association but
which  has  been  based  in  the Swiss
Federal  capital,  Berne,  since 1960.
This   is   where   the  UEFA  General
Secretary  and  his  staff  sit at the
controls:     from   here,   work   is
co-ordinated     throughout    Europe,
¶¹referees  appointed  for international
fixtures,  meetings  convened, courses
organized,   minutes   kept,   reports
filed,  the  'UEFA Bulletin' and 'UEFA
Information'     edited,    and    any
information  released  in the official
working  languages  of French, English
and  German.   It  is  here  too  that
proposals   are  studied,  initiatives
formulated  and  guidelines  laid down
for   the   development   of  football
throughout Europe.










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