European Club Association (ECA) meeting was hosted by Turkish Football Federation in Riva, with the participation of UEFA officials. At the meeting where the significance of ECA in the evolving landscape of European football, the new post-2024 UEFA club competitions format, Türkiye's involvement in international football processes and the importance of continued success for enhanced participation opportunities across Europe were discussed, Turkish Football Federation President Mehmet Büyükekşi, Super League Professional Football Clubs Association President Ali Koç and UEFA Deputy General Secretary Giorgio Marchetti gave speeches.

TFF 2nd Deputy President, Executive Board Member Responsible for Administrative Affairs and League 1 Yalçın Orhan, Deputy President, Executive Board Member Responsible for Club Licensing Affairs and Disability Federations Yusuf Günay, Deputy President, Executive Board Member Responsible for Football Development Directorate, Academy and Youth Development Projects Agah Ruşen Çetin, Deputy President, Executive Board Member Responsible for FIFA, UEFA Relations and Foreign Affairs Mustafa Eröğüt and Executive Board Member Responsible for Super League Müslüm Özmen also attended the meeting which was held in Orhan Saka Conference Hall at Hasan Doğan National Team Camp and Training Facilities.

UEFA Deputy General Secretary Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA Head of Club Competitions and Calendar Tobias Hedtstück and UEFA Executive Office Manager İlker Uğur were present at the meeting. Membership Manager Salomé Gimenez-Durieux, Head of Finance Strategy and Operations Hugo Hamon and Director of Football Diederik Dewaele attended the meeting on behalf of European Club Association (ECA). Managers and representatives of European clubs and Turkish clubs were also present at the meeting.

Mehmet Büyükekşi: "We are happy to host such an important meeting"

TFF President Mehmet Büyükekşi, who expressed his happiness in hosting such an important meeting, said, "UEFA Deputy General Secretary Mr. Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA managers, European Clubs Association managers, Super League Clubs Association President Mr. Ali Koç, managers and professionals of our clubs, welcome to Turkish Football Federation. Today, we are happy to host UEFA, European Clubs Association and the clubs of our country. We are also pleased with the amount of participation."

"We rose from 20th place to 9th place in UEFA world rankings in two years"

Stating his belief in the positive contributions of the format change in European club competitions, President Büyükekşi said, "I believe that the new format of European club competitions will contribute to the financial sustainability, brand values, sports development of the clubs and increase interest in football. While Türkiye was in the 20th place in UEFA world rankings in the last 2 years, it rose to the 9th place with the points our clubs received in UEFA club competitions. In this way, we will have the opportunity to participate in UEFA club competitions with 5 teams again. I would like to thank all our clubs that represent our country in UEFA club competitions and contribute to the country ranking points and wish them success. With these feelings and thoughts, I greet you with respect and wish you success in your work."

Ali Koç: "European football has been in extraordinary change in the last 15 years"

Super League Professional Football Clubs Association President and European Clubs Association (ECA) Board Member Ali Koç also highlight the importance of European Clubs Association meeting held for the first time in Türkiye. Koç said, "Super League Professional Football Clubs Association has been working on the international aspect of the business lately. European football has been in an extraordinary change in the last 15 years. The economy has changed a lot, billions of dollars are aforementioned. Technology has arrived, the rules are changing. Formats are changing, today we will learn how this will happen in the new era. We must be more effective in international arenas in order to be involved in the processes taking place in Europe. The most important way to achieve this is through ECA. In the next period, all economic issues of European football have reached the point where UEFA and ECA will decide together. We attach great importance to this meeting. It is very important for us to be an active country in ECA with our actions."

Giorgio Marchetti: "We will go into the details of the new format"

UEFA Deputy General Secretary Giorgio Marchetti said, "We will have an important meeting today. We are going to change the format of UEFA club competitions starting from next season. We will have a new format in UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League. In this meeting, we will explain why the format has changed and what benefits our clubs will gain with the changes. We will explain the background of the work and go into details."

Marchetti emphasized that the request for a format change came from the clubs and continued: "As you know, we make all the change decisions and all the steps we will take with the knowledge of the clubs. Clubs are our most important stakeholders. They knew that such a change would happen, and in fact, the request came from them. All clubs in Europe, whether big or small, need to play more matches in Europe. They fully support these changes. These changes will be an important line change for us."

"As long as this success continues, Turkish clubs are likely to benefit from participation"

Emphasizing that they follow the performances of Turkish teams closely, UEFA Deputy General Secretary Giorgio Marchetti said, "We have seen that Turkish teams have shown good performances, and the numbers say the same. With the changes we have made, we will see that more teams will have an impact on the participation list. The more successful you are, the more teams will be able to participate in European cups. We made some changes in the system and calculations. As long as this success continues, it is likely that Turkish clubs will benefit from participation in future seasons. This will also contribute to their country ranking points."