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At the beginning of July, the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) hosted the sixth exchange visit of SD Europe’s supporter liaison project, LIAISE, which is funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme and UEFA. The delegation was headed by SD Europe’s project manager, Stuart Dykes, and included Jakub Novakovski and Dariusz Łapiński of the Polish Football Association’s Infrastructure and Organization of Events department and Martin Schlosser, head of Austria’s National Inform

It was a productive day in Sofia, as the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) organised a Supporter Liaison Officer workshop under its ‘Fan Dialogue: 2020 and beyond’ project. On the agenda for the day was: The work of the BFU with the fans, an overview of the SLO role, the new Council of Europe Convention, a presentation by SD Europe about the SLO role (challenges, relationships and how it should be), and a Q&A between the BFU, local police authorities, SLOs and the supporter grou

A representative of SD Europe recently took part in the annual Pan-European Football Policing Training Project (PE-FPTP) event, delivered under the auspices of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) in cooperation with the Bulgarian CEPOL National Unit, the EU Thank Tank on Football Security and Liverpool University.  The event was held in mid-September in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was attended by police representatives with responsibility for football poli

The SLO requirement enters its sixth season, as SD Europe celebrates its tenth anniversary celebrated its first AGM with representatives from 15 different countries. In the ten years of SD Europe’s existence, structured dialogue has been a core part of the organisation, materialising in the introduction of the Supporter Liaison Officer requirement in the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations (Article 35) in 2012/13. It has been a busy five years for the SLO

Eleven SLOs were represented at the meeting, and the network has grown by 40% The SLOs who attended the second club SLO European network meeting at the VELTINS Arena in Gelsenkirchen were as follows: Adrian Gruenig (FC Basel, Switzerland), Beverley Mayer (St. Johnstone, Scotland), Andrey Kyuchukov (Dunav Russe, Bulgaria), Kiriakos Giantsidis (PAOK, Greece), Lasse Bauer (Brøndby, Denmark), Maurice Dumas (Feyenoord, Netherlands), Riccardo Bertolin (Roma, Italy), Thomas Kirschne

The event will build further on the previous two workshops, on Governance and Finance, as well as the 16 exchange visits between the partners. The initiative is co-financed by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union and Uefa. The third workshop of SD Europe‘s Erasmus+ project will be take place this weekend (16-18/6) at the stadium of Schalke 04, one of the biggest member-run clubs in the world, and in Germany, the country most suitable to welcome an event on members and

Apart from the regular standard training, education and strategy meetings, 2015/16 saw a number of developments of landmark importance in the evolution of the SLO project. In January 2016 SD Europe were awarded observer status on the Standing Committee of the European Convention on Spectator Violence (TR-V) for a renewable period of three years. And towards the end of the season SD Europe organised, with the support of UEFA, the inaugural European SLO network meeting in Swede

The Council of Europe Convention on an Integrated Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football Matches and Other Sports Events was signed by 14 states at a ceremony held at the Stade de France on Sunday 3 July. The 14 signatory states are Bulgaria, France, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine. The Convention will enter into force on ratification by three signatory states. “It’s an o

The first leg of the second Europa League qualifying round saw Bulgarian club Beroe Stara Zagora host Danish side Brøndby IF. The Bulgarian Football Union took the opportunity to organise its first UEFA SLO bilateral meeting, which was also the inaugural meeting for the 2015/16 season. The event took place at the premises of the local BFU branch one day before the match. It was chaired by BFU SLO coordinator Dimitar Christov and attended by representatives of the local BFU of

2014/15 has been another busy year for the SLO project as various licensing bodies across Europe organised training workshops or events for their club SLOs, the UEFA SLO bilateral meetings were introduced, new translated and localised handbooks were published, initiatives with direct impact on the SLO were started, there was an effort for its better understanding by and cooperation with non-football stakeholders, its communications improved with a new UEFA electronic newslett

At the invitation of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU), UEFA and SD Europe SLO consultant Stuart Dykes met with the BFU SLO Coordinator, Dimitar Christov, and future deputy general secretary, Pavel Kolev, on 17 June. The two sides discussed the status of the SLO project in Bulgaria, the work being undertaken and the challenges in implementing the SLO requirement. The BFU highlighted their commitment to promoting the project and organising a workshop next season and requested

Supporters Direct (SD) Europe has been invited and will attend a conference on supporter involvement in Bulgaria (17/06), jointly organised by the Bulgarian Ministry of Sport, the Bulgarian Football Union and Sinya Bulgaria (Levski Sofia supporters’ trust). The first session of the conference will focus on supporter ownership and involvement and the SLO project, where the European experience and the situation and potential in Bulgaria will be analysed. The second session will