Aug 01, 2018
People's Club Omonia 1948 forms as member-run club in Cyprus
Cypriot member-run club ‘People’s Club Omonia 1948’ held its inaugural AGM in July, an event that was attended by SD Europe.
The members of PAC Omonia 1948 approved the founding statutes and interim board before unanimously asking for their club to immediately have a strong social and community focus, alongside sporting success.
PAC Omonia 1948 was officially recognised by the civil court a few days later and the newly-founded member-run club will start its journey in the 4th tier of Cypriot football.
A…
Aug 01, 2018
FC Tarraco hosts fifth Fútbol Popular meeting
The ancient Roman ruins scattered around the Catalan city of Tarragona provided a spectacular backdrop to the fifth meeting of Spain’s Fútbol Popular movement at the end of July (27-29).
Hosted by FC Tarraco, fan-owned clubs from across the country gathered for debate, knowledge sharing and discussion and, of course, an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on what has been an incredible season for many of the organisations involved. (Read our 2017/18 season review.)
Kicking off the weekend at the home…
Jul 26, 2018
SLO and sports law reform feature at FSE summer network meeting
The wonderful city of Gijón in northern Spain played host to the Football Supporters Europe (FSE) summer network meeting from July 19th to 22nd. Organised by Unión de Peñas Sportinguistas (UNIPES) and Spanish national supporters organisation FASFE, the event brought together supporters from across Europe to discuss a range of topical issues.
Kicking off two days of presentations and debate, the opening panel discussion focused on how the supporter liaison officer (SLO) and Disability Access Officer (DOA) roles can be implemented in…
Jul 05, 2018
Dinamo Bucharest fans launch DDB project
‘Peluza Catalin Hildan’, the main supporters’ organisation of Dinamo Bucharest, has been working on the launch of the DDB (Just Dinamo Bucharest) project, that will allow the club’s supporters to assume increased structured influence in the running of their club.
In the past few months, PCH has undertaken significant steps in restructuring itself as a supporters’ organisation with a wider scope of activities. Board members and volunteers have worked methodically to develop a plan, under which the PCH will be able…
Jun 28, 2018
European SLO network goes from strength to strength
Supporter liaison officers (SLOs) from 13 countries attended the third meeting of the European SLO network at the home of Feyenoord Rotterdam in early June. The gathering constituted a highpoint in the development of this growing representative body.
After previous meetings in Stockholm and Gelsenkirchen it was the turn of Rotterdam to do the honours this time. Representing host club Feyenoord, manager for supporters and social work Ton Strooband welcomed the following SLOs to the third meeting of the European SLO…
Jun 21, 2018
Supporters working on a brighter future after K. Lierse SK files for bankruptcy
Football fans in the city of Lier are pouring their energy into a new project, K. Lyra-Lierse, following the bankruptcy of former Belgian champions K. Lierse SK in May.
Guiding fans through months of uncertainty and worry, supporters groups GeelZwart, Yellow Black’s Army and the Lierse Supporters Association came together to form a new fundraising and awareness initiative entitled Lierse voor Altijd (Lierse Forever) back in the spring.
In the beginning, Lierse voor Altijd (LVA)’s objectives were simple: to maintain clear and…
Jun 20, 2018
Work of Recre Trust sees former club president held to account in court
Inspired by green and yellow scarves of protest while on a visit to Manchester, the Recre Trust has made an immeasurable impact on the Spanish town of Huelva in its short existence of less than three years.
It was supporters, driven by a rescue campaign designed and led by the trust, that raised an astonishing figure of €1 million in just 25 days to save Spain’s oldest football club, Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, in 2016. And it was the efforts…
Jun 14, 2018
2018 World Cup: Supporter involvement well represented by 45 clubs & 141 players
As the Fifa World Cup gets underway, we did a little research and asked: how well are member-run football clubs or clubs with some element of supporter involvement in their governance structure represented amongst the 32 countries taking part in the competition?
By Arik Rosenstein & Niamh O’Mahony
Europe and South America are particularly prominent, but it’s quite an impressive list: we counted no less than 141 players representing 45 clubs from 25 different national squads over in Russia.
2014 World Champions Germany…
Jun 05, 2018
Season 2017/18: Silverware, promotions, and plenty of fighting spirit!
With the World Cup in Russia right around the corner, you could be forgiven for thinking that the club season drew to a close weeks ago. However, for some countries in northern Europe and the Americas, the league has merely hit the pause button, while others are (not so) quietly wrapping up their play-offs.
Article updated: June 6, 2018. Main photo: Rubén Arévalo
Still, we can safely declare that the 2017/18 season has been another successful term for the growing number of…
May 31, 2018
LFA travels to Bulgaria as LIAISE exchange visits get underway
The recent visit of representatives of the Czech Football League (LFA) to the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) was the first of 12 exchange visits scheduled to take place as part of SD Europe’s, Liaison-based Integrated Approach to Improving Supporter Engagement (LIAISE) project, which is funded by EU’s Erasmus+ programme and co-financed by Uefa.
As part of the visit, Tomáš Čarnogurský, supporter liaison officer (SLO) coordinator for the LFA, and Svatoslav Batá, SLO at Bohemians Praha 1905, had the opportunity to meet with…
