The UEFA Executive Committee approved increased solidarity payments to national FAs under the HatTrick scheme during a meeting which was held in Prague, Czech Republic.
The Executive Committee approved a proposal for an increase in solidarity payments to the 53 European national football associations via the HatTrick scheme. HatTrick is the name given to UEFA’s redistribution scheme for income earned from the UEFA European Football Championship final tournament.
Under the new scheme HatTrick III, which will run from 2012 to 2016, each national association will receive €3m as part of the overall investment programme and then a further €1.5m a year, over the four-year period, in solidarity payments that are linked to certain commitments – such as the implementation of the club licensing scheme, participation in non-top competitions, and membership of the UEFA Coaching Convention and UEFA Grassroots Charter.
Consequently, the total amount payable per national association via HatTrick III is €9m, which represents an increase of more than 15% in comparison with HatTrick II.
The Executive Committee also approved a proposal from UEFA’s Football Committee to introduce an award for players who reach 100 appearances for their national team. This award will act as an excellent promotion for national team football. The award will be retroactive, and more information will follow in due course.
Based on the successful experiment which is ongoing in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, the Executive Committee also agreed to request to FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB) that the experiment with additional assistant referees be extended to include its deployment at the UEFA EURO 2012 final tournament.