The Scottish FA Score First To Improve Standards

BSI present the Scottish Football Association (SFA) with first ever ISO 9001:2000 award for a Club Licensing Scheme

While recent, high profile reports indicate that standards are dropping in the English game, the SFA has led the way for Britain by implementing ISO 9001:2000 quality management system to govern its administration.

Following the announcement from UEFA that all clubs entering its football competitions from the 2004/2005 season must have a licence issued by the National Football Association or its affiliated league (the licensor), European football clubs have demanded that all participants are assessed on a level playing field.

As a part of this project all licensors are required to fulfil certain minimum standards of a quality management system in order to ensure that the UEFA club licensing system is applied consistently by the licensor on national level. The SFA has decided to go even a step further and implement the full ISO 9001:2000 requirements.

This achievement demonstrates that the SFA is prepared for managing club licensing in an effective and consistent manner. This approach has been fully endorsed by UEFA who would like to see other Associations follow this example.

The ISO 9001:2000 award achieved by the SFA is an independent demonstration that it has implemented this process in an effective manner.

Derek Hunter, the licensing Officerfor the SFA, says:

"This Standard is very important because it protects both the players and the clubs from potential problems associated with management procedures. We want to demonstrate to Scottish football clubs that we can be relied upon to follow everything in a coherent and proper way. ISO 9001:2000 will also ensure that we focus on understanding their needs and continually improve our approach"

Andrea Traverso, of UEFA, comments:

"It is vital for the implementation of the club licensing system that everyone, the clubs but also the licensors are ready to achieve higher standards. This is good news for the Scottish clubs as they will be assessed in a proper and efficient way by the SFA."

Neil Hannah, managing director for BSI Management Systems (EMEA), explains:

"It is very prudent of the Scottish FA to have implemented ISO 9001:2000 at this stage, as it demonstrates to the professional Scottish football clubs that its systems are fair, open and subject to independent scrutiny in the same way that theirs will be. It is also a positive demonstration of the flexibility of the new ISO 9001:2001 and we hope that other Associations across Europe will follow the Scottish lead."

-ENDS-

For more information please contact:

Wilma Tulloch on +44 (0)20 8996 6330 OR
Marc Edney on +44 (0)20 8996 6330About BSI

Editors' Notes

Club licensing is a UEFA response to the current issues facing football and lays down the minimum criteria to be met by clubs who wish to play in its competitions. These criteria cover 5 key areas:

• infrastructure
• personnel
• administration
• legal
• financial

National associations or affiliated leagues have been charged with the responsibility for assessing clubs to determine their compliance with the club licensing criteria, as laid down by UEFA in its club licensing manual.