The Profession of Managing, discussed

Javier Tebas opened up proceedings on the 'Reforms to the Spanish Association of Professional Football Managers' discussion, organised by the Professional Football Foundation and the Association of Football Managers (ANEF). The president of the LFP outlined "the subject of coaching as a whole is something that needs revising, and this forum will allow us to come to a collective agreement". He added: "Coaches are different to players and as such require a special kind of relationship".

Meanwhile, Xavier Juliá thanked the LFP for the "opportunity to sit down and talk about such an interesting subject matter". Juliá explained that the main aim of the discussion is to "bring together different ways of thinking in order to become more united", before adding that "our relationship with the RFEF is quite complicated, and we will make it clear that the associations supporting us today have relationships with the federations and politicians that govern sports in their countries". The ANEF president finished off by asking that the forum serve as a way of "becoming stronger collectively. We want to reach out to the Federation and sit down with them in order to resolve the current situation".

The first part of the discussion surrounded the reality of Spanish football managers in comparison with their European counterparts, and Spanish coaches from other sports. Here, various members of different management associations in Europe gave their thoughts on the subject. Gerard Marsman, from the Dutch Association explained: "The managers don’t have a say in the Federation, but we’re working to fix that and have them present on all of the committees". José Pereira, of Portugal, also explained the regulation of managers in his country: "In Portugal the Association promotes, organises and controls football and all of its competitions”. On the other hand, Raymond Domenech from France supported the idea of "creating an international syndicate together in order to be stronger in Europe".

The debate then discussed the reasons for rule changes and equality with the rest of Europe. Jorge Masía, a lawyer at DLA Piper brought to the table an analysis of the payment of a 3% tax: "It’s a pre-requisite for obtaining the federation licence; in any case, this payment should be adjusted for each manager individually in relation to the rules of competition". Alberto Palomar, an associate professor of law, and a specialist in sports law explained to those in attendance that "The Law of Sport is about to change, and the scheme of autonomous and state licensing will disappear. We strive to make working conditions better, in addition to the subjects related to qualifications, because it’s an important matter". The last to talk was José Curado, who advocated taking another step towards the European Union in order to "supply a single voice, and give unique advice and help to coaches, who in turn will be represented in the European Union".