136 ECA Member Clubs were present to discuss the current hot topics relating to European club football.
Ian Williams also attended his first ECA Competitions Working Group meeting were he had the opportunity to discuss the regulations for the new UCL and UEL competitions from 2012 to 2015, player eligibility, club trained players and club coefficients.
Other working groups also discussed the distribution of monies from the 2010 world cup, financial fair play, the new FIFA Transfer Management system, youth contracts and the protection of minors.
The general assembly of clubs discussed the possible significant changes to the international calendar, such as a "Winter" World Cup andf concluded that all clubs must be meaningfully involved in all decisions affecting club football.
The ECA questioned the way FIFA reaches decisions heavily affecting club football without the involvement of the stakeholders concerned and believes that modern football needs democracy, transparency and certainty of rules.
The ECA Executive Board also proposed to the members to extend the current ECA Membership Cycle (2010-12) by one year, until the end of the season 2012/13. The reason for such proposal is to harmonise the ECA Cycle with the UEFA Committees' Cycle, which would allow for consistency between the ECA Executive Board Cycle and ECA representation at UEFA Committees. The ECA Ordinary Members unanimously approved this change.
Guest speakers included FIFA's Legal Director Marco Villiger and DRC judge Philippe Diallo who intervened on dispute resolution procedures.
Marco Villiger updated the ECA Members on the measures taken by FIFA in order to speed up procedures at the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) and Players' Status Committee, whereas Philippe Diallo gave practical insight into the role of the DRC looking back at 10 years of DRC history at FIFA. Furthermore, Marco Villiger presented ideas on an ECA Mediation Service, which in the future might deal with disputes between ECA Member Clubs. ECA is prepared to further cooperate with both FIFA and UEFA on this matter.
Furthermore, the ECA Member Clubs were pleased to welcome UEFA's Chief Refereeing Officer, Pierluigi Collina. The former referee updated the clubs on the experiment with five referees currently being carried out in both UEFA Club Competitions and answered a series of questions from a variety of clubs.