FAs and clubs pledge to work together

First of all, the committee unanimously agreed that the coordinated international match calendar, created by FIFA in 2000 and reviewed and ratified by the FIFA Congress in Marrakech, Morocco in September 2005, had been a step in the right direction towards improving the balance between competitions involving national teams and competitions at club level.

The members of the working group who were representing the associations and clubs then underlined their determination to work together to establish, as quickly as possible, mutually satisfactory solutions regarding the release of players for national team duty, concluding insurance cover for players on national team duty, and certain clubs’ demands for financial compensation from the associations when their players are released for national team duty. 

With regard to refereeing, Pierluigi Collina stressed the importance of referees being prepared. ”I would like to congratulate FIFA on putting the system of refereeing trios in place. These trios form a team, and they have to know each other inside out to be able to perform to the best of their ability.”

The working group also discussed the professionalisation of refereeing, the use of technical aids and the increase in the number of referees. 

Composition of the Working Group for Competitions:

As is the case with the Working Group for Financial Matters and the Working Group for Political Matters, all sections of the international football family are represented.

Chairman: Adriano Galliani (president of Italian football league, vice-president and CEO of AC Milan),  Deputy chairman: Michel Platini (member of FIFA and UEFA executive committees, vice-president of French football association). Other members of the committee includes: FIFA's Urs Linsi, General Secretary. Confederations: Lars-Christer Olsson, UEFA CEO.

Associations: Gerhard  Mayer-Vorfelder (member of FIFA Executive Committee, president of German football association), Vitaliy Mutko (president of Football Union of Russia), Eugenio Figueredo (observer, president of Uruguayan football association) and Gilberto Madail (observer, president of Portuguese football association).

Clubs: Michel D’Hooghe (member of FIFA Executive Committee and president of FC Bruges), Emilio Butragueño (vice-president of Real Madrid), Walter A. Brunner (president of Grasshopper-Club Zurich) and Umberto Gandini (observer, AC Milan).

Players/coaches: Theo van Seggelen (general secretary of FIFPro), Kalusha Bwalya (first vice-president of the Football Association of Zambia and national team coach), Johan Cruyff (former international player and coach) and Arsène Wenger (manager of Arsenal FC). Referees: Pierluigi Collina, former international referee.