Kicking off a series of bilateral meetings planned for the coming months, the Spanish Football Association (Real Federación Española de Fútbol) took the opportunity to arrange a discussion around the SLO function ahead of the recent Europe League match between Villarreal and Slavia Prague in Spain.
Representatives from Villareal CF, Valencia CF, RFEF, SK Slavia Prag and SD Europe took part. Good discussions on implementation and the role in general were had with lots of useful and practical knowledge exchanged.
“I think it is very important that we take advantage of our clubs competing in Europe so that we can all gather and learn from the best SLO practices in each league or country, allowing for the SLO function to finally be formalised in Spanish clubs. We can all learn and improve from one another,” said Pablo Bisbal from Real Federación Española de Fútbol.
Jana Kaufnerová, SLO at SK Slavia Prag: “I found this meeting very useful – we deal with very similar problems regarding conditions for our fans. It is useful to learn from the other countries and clubs regarding, for example, the policy for the season ticket for away matches, special registration systems for fans for away matches tickets (I mean the priority for season tickets holders). Also as Czech Republic is in a project of SLO for the first season, it is great to hear experience from a SLO who has been in a project for many years.”
Lena Gustafson Wiberg, a member of the SD Europe team but also lead SLO at Djurgården, was also very pleased with discussions. She commented: “It was an inspiring meeting and I’m glad the RFEF seized this opportunity and that Valencia CF was invited to take part. Speaking to each other about different situations you may face as an SLO is a great way of learning and also to grow knowledge about the function.”
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. For more information more, visit the SLO section on the SD Europe website or get in touch via slo@s839813844.websitehome.co.uk.