January was a busy month for the Andorran Football Federation (FAF) licensing department, who organised two meetings for the clubs applying for a UEFA license.
The meetings aimed to provide the applicant clubs with documents necessary for implementing the SLO project (duties, responsibilities and resources designed to help SLOs when dealing with supporters) as well as introduce the role of the disability access officer (DAO) and the resources produced by our partners at the Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFÉ).
Although the SLO requirement applies only to Andorran clubs who qualify to play in a UEFA competition, almost every club has appointed an SLO. Andrea Vidal Santin, licensing manager and SLO coordinator at the FAF, said: “The majority of clubs have appointed an SLO. Our clubs might not have large numbers of supporters, but the SLO project has been really useful in dealing with fans, especially those of the away teams when participating in European club competitions.”‘
Under Article 35 of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations, clubs across Europe are required to appoint a Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) to ensure proper and constructive discourse between them and their fans. The SLO project originated in 2009 as a result of detailed talks between UEFA and SD Europe. It was approved by the UEFA Executive Committee in 2010, with SD Europe appointed to manage its implementation across UEFA’s 54 member associations. If you would like to learn more, visit the SLO section on the SD Europe website, follow the official SLO account on twitter or get directly in touch via slo@supporters-direct.coop.
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