Repercussions of the Revision of the Statutes on the organisational structure of the UEG

At the 19th UEG General Assembly in Funchal/POR, the delegates have unanimously adopted the new Statutes. The UEG Statutes Commission chaired by the Vice-president Walter Nyffeler carried out the revision.

As Vice-president, Walter Nyffeler is also responsible for the finances of the UEG. We discussed with him the repercussions of this revision on the new UEG structure and the economic aspects, which the UEG as a European Sports Federation has to take into consideration.

For over a year, the Statutes Commission has worked on the revision of the statutes. As the General Assembly has now given its approval, can we consider that this revision is completed?

The fundamental task of the Statutes Commission was the revision of the existing UEG Statutes according to the decisions taken by the Executive Committee and the General Assembly.

As an example I can mention the admission of the new disciplines trampoline, acrobatic gymnastics and aerobics, the adaptation of current terms as used in the FIG Statutes (f.ex. the denomination of the Technical Committees and Commissions), the new structure of the UEG administration by re-organising the staff as well as, in order to allow a better comprehension, the review of certain articles which are now easier to understand.

We will of course continue to revise the UEG Statutes according to the decisions to be taken by the General Assemblies to come; this is a continuous process. FIG and UEG make no difference anymore between a partial and a total revision. I am of the opinion that it should be possible at any time, in the future, to download the current edition as a protected document from the UEG website.

< Do you believe that Statutes from sports organisations in general offer a sufficient legal protection in case of conflicts or disputes with member federations or elected members of the Authorities?

Statutes have to fulfil certain conditions, as they represent the legal basis for the organisation and management of a sports institution. For the UEG, this means the Swiss law and its jurisdiction, in particular the association law.

As UEG Vice-president, you are responsible for the finances. What exactly are your tasks?

Besides controlling the expenses, I have to prepare budgets and financial programmes in consultation with the President's Board and to use the available capital judiciously for the administration, the activities of the technical committees, special projects and events.

What income sources can the UEG count on?

We have the annual membership fee to be paid by the UEG member federations; however, this represents just 1 or 2% of the annual budget. We have furthermore the starting fees, the federations have to pay for participating in our events; this amount represents nearly 10% of the annual budget.

The main part of the UEG income results out of the marketing rights for granting the TV- and advertising rights for UEG events. They represent up to 80% of the UEG income. The member federations receive a substantial part for promoting gymnastics by means of subsidies they receive from their governmental institutions and can therefore cover a great part of the expenses of their federation.

The FIG as the world gymnastic federation receives from the IOC every four years an amount of several million dollars from the incomes out of the Olympic Games. First and foremost, this money shall be used for the international promotion of gymnastics, which belongs to the responsibilities of the FIG.
Can the UEG, as the European institution, dispose of similar subsidies, as for example from the European Union?

Absolutely not; with regard to the promotion of sport in Europe, the European Union had in the beginning many difficulties to include sport in the European constitution. The UEG has made the experience that it is not the only contact of the European Commission. National and international umbrella federations also manifest themselves.

Under these conditions, is it not extremely difficult to guarantee a secure long-term financing of the UEG, if one depends mainly on incomes resulting out of TV and event marketing?

The difficulty lies in the fact to embed the existing means in a solid financial programme, so that the UEG has longer the ability to act. A condition for this is a strict budgetary discipline, which requests that all UEG Authorities respect their budgets. The creation of appropriate reserves is also necessary, in order to guarantee the survival of the UEG in difficult economical times. Since I am in charge of this mandate, since 1996, I have worked very hard and was successful.

It is known that we are not in the comfortable situation as our umbrella federation FIG who benefits of the generous financial contributions of the IOC.
As much as it is possible, we try to conclude long-term contracts with our licensees for the television rights. The same is for the organisers of our European championships, to whom we submit an attractive offer for the sale of the commercial rights with the attribution of the event.

We have to keep in our eyes that it is inevitable that in the future too, UEG can only realise income with commercial events and with the interest of the media. Therefore, more than many consider it necessary, UEG has to think about new competition forms, My opinion meets the one of our president Klaus Lotz, who has often referred to this situation.


Danielle Duchoud / Manfred Kucht