La Federación de Accionistas y Socios del Fútbol Español (FASFE) took their campaign to improve democracy and supporter participation within Spanish football to their national parliament recently.
As part of the consultation process to draft a new Sports Law in Spain on April 20th, FASFE general secretary Emilio Abejón gave a 15-minute presentation entitled: “Participation and democracy in Spanish clubs: an integrative approach that enhances the social function of professional sports.”
Hoy hemos estado en el Parlamento representados por @FASFEaficion, con el fin de buscar una solución legislativa al deterioro de nuestro fútbol debido al menoscabo que conlleva la Ley 10/1990 del Deporte hacia el carácter social y cultural de los clubes.#CambiemosElFútbol — CAP Ciudad de Murcia (@CiudadDeMurcia) April 20, 2018
Following a meeting with Sports Minister and president of the Higher Sports Council, José Ramón Lete last June, FASFE established a working group from within its membership to work on contributing ideas and proposals for consideration as part of the new Sports law.
Proposals include:
eliminating the obligation of being SAD (Sports Limited Company) to compete in professional competition
mandatory introduction of fans in boards
promotion of fan ownership
The High Sports Council expects a draft of the new Sports Law to be ready to present to parliament in the Autumn.
“For a long time fans have suffered from sport legislation that did not take into account the social dimension of sport,” Emilio explained to SD Europe. “This has to be changed in the new sports law that has to include measures to facilitate the participation of fan communities in their clubs. FASFE has been working hard for the last ten years to attain this.”
Gracias a @FASFEaficion por darnos voz en el #Congreso. Entre todos lucharemos por un nuevo marco jurídico para nuestro fútbol, con más participación, más democracia y con una clara función social. Seguimos 💪 https://t.co/bkUieQv2P9 — Recre Trust (@RecreTrust) April 25, 2018
The current Sports Law, dating from 1990, states that professional sports clubs must be private companies (SADs) aside from four exceptions: FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna. This, however, is a requirement that FASFE is pushing to change to allow for greater supporter participation and democracy at the highest level of the game in Spain.
FASFE is a member of SD Europe, and you can keep up to date with all their activities on fasfe.org. To get in touch with the SD Europe team, visit Contact Us.