SLO – GUIDELINES

Introduction

The recommendations and guidance in this text originate from Article 35 of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play – Edition 2010.

In fact, starting from the 2012/2013 football season, all the European clubs participating in the UEFA competitions have had to designate a delegate for relations with the fans (Supporter Liaison Officer – SLO) to guarantee an adequate and constructive dialogue between the clubs and their fans .

The Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio has, at first, incorporated the content of Article 35 within the UEFA Licensing Manual – Version 2.3 (and in all its subsequent versions), and later, also at the urging of the Lega Nazionale Professionisti – Serie A, the Lega Nazionale Professionisti – Serie B and the Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico, extended the mandatory nature of the figure of the Supporter Liaison Officer to all professional clubs, inserting this provision within the rules governing admission to the championship through the issuance of the National License.

The introduction of this requirement for the issuance of the National License represents a crucial point for relations between clubs and fans and underlines the importance that the FIGC and the Leagues attribute to dialogue and communication between clubs and fans.

Generally speaking, the organizational criteria contained in the National Licensing system are intended to improve the way clubs are managed. The introduction of the SLO responds to the need to perfect and make communication between interested parties more transparent.

Targets

The objectives pursued through the introduction of the mandatory SLO figure are:

• – Improve and, in some cases, start a constructive dialogue between fans and clubs.
• – Increase the quality of services offered to fans.
• – Promote and boost social activities.
• – Improve match organization and management through a process of fan empowerment.
• – Helping to improve relationships among various stakeholders in the world of soccer, particularly fans, club administrators, owners, and institutions in charge of football events.
• – Prevent, through initiatives and discussions with fans, episodes of violence and/or discrimination.

Role description

The delegate for relations with the fans carries out liaison functions between the fans, the club, the National Federation and the League.

The SLO must, through its own work, that of the club and with all members, create virtuous behaviors that tend to involve fans in the best ways and with constant interaction programs.

This is also to isolate the violent fringes of typhoid.

The SLO works with the club on the preparation of a specification on requirements and procedures for the accreditation of supporters’ organizations and associations to clubs.

The accreditation activity, which takes place through the conclusion of conventions/agreements with the clubs, must be facilitated by the latter as part of a process of greater responsibility of the clubs themselves and the fans.

Furthermore, the SLO has the task of evaluating and authorizing requests for meetings with members, including club managers, coming from fans, associations or groups of supporters. Meetings carried out not in compliance with the provisions of current legislation or not authorized by the SLO as described above will be sanctioned pursuant to art. 12, paragraph 9 of the Sports Justice Code.

The SLO is involved in the activities of the fans during internal and external matches and provides them with all useful communications. On the occasion of away games, also thanks to the collaboration of the SLO of the host team, he will have to adequately inform the fans of the away team on the methods of access to the facility and its rules of use, on the places of interest that can be visited and on the habits of the fans hosts.

The exchange of information between SLOs must be encouraged. The creation of a network of SLOs, both at a national and European level, represents a basic factor in this process and constitutes one of the main objectives of the growth project of which the SLO must be the protagonist.

The SLO, in compliance with the distinction of roles, collaborates with the safety delegate and can participate in the GOS in compliance with the provisions established for this purpose.