Nota de Prensa
MON 21.11.2016
The first-ever meeting of the working group of compliance officers from LaLiga's member clubs and public limited sports companies (SADs) took place today. The event was coordinated by LaLiga's compliance and internal control department, headed by Esperanza Bernal-Quiros, in collaboration with the integrity and security department, overseen by Alfredo Lorenzo, and the legal department, led by Maria Jose Lopez and represented at the session by Ignacio Gurpegui.
This working group will meet at least twice per season and aims to serve as a forum providing updates on the latest news in the world of compliance and internal control, such as amendments to internal regulations and applicable law (both national and international), as well as developments relating to relevant case law, doctrine, international (ISO) and domestic (UNE) standards, and computer tools that help to systematise the tasks at hand. In addition, it will allow those involved to exchange and contrast the experiences they have had while going about their jobs.
This first meeting focused on topical matters of interest to the attendees including the question of what integrity criteria clubs/SADs will have to meet in order to be passed fit for registration next season, 2017/18. On this note, Lorenzo stressed that, "We want the competition to be free from any form of match-fixing or manipulation of results. The biggest risk facing football is the competition not being clean. We're going to hold integrity workshops for all the LaLiga clubs to ensure that they know what behaviour is prohibited. We will explain things with total transparency. These events are geared towards everyone at the club."
Other issues were also covered, including the need for clubs/SADs – with the exception of the promoted ones – to accredit the implementation, monitoring and regular follow-up of the Crime Prevention Model or Programme which they have in place for the current season, by means of an auditor's report from an independent expert which must be submitted when registering for the following season. Furthermore, Gurpegui gave a brief introduction to the European General Data Protection Regulation which comes into effect in 2018, and which will require greater involvement from compliance officers in this area; and Raul Gomez, a lawyer and compliance advisor for LaLiga, talked about IT tools which will allow for a better understanding of third parties.
Finally, LaLiga had the pleasure of welcoming the president of Transparency International Spain, Mr Lizcano, with whom the clubs/SADs had the opportunity to analyse the indicators which the organisation is using to compute the second edition of the Football Clubs Transparency Index (INFUT 2016) and to ask any questions which they deemed relevant in this regard: "Last season we conducted a transparency study of all of the clubs. Our objective is for the level of transparency to improve year after year. We are very demanding. We assess whether the club has a section devoted to transparency, but it's important that there is an easily accessible link on the website itself. There is no transparency index like this in other leagues," Lizcano said.
The goal of Transparency International when putting together this index is to evaluate the level of transparency of the clubs/SADs and to encourage them to offer more information to the public and to society as a whole.
The aforementioned evaluation will conclude with a report, in which it is expected, based on the degree of interest and effort demonstrated by the clubs/SADs, that there will be a trend of increased transparency compared to the previous year.
Through these types of initiatives, LaLiga aspires not only to be recognised globally as the best competition from the perspective of sporting, financial and social fair play. It also intends to establish itself in a category of one in terms of integrity, transparency and management, making it a benchmark for other national and international sports bodies and organisations, one which is at the forefront of the latest legislative reforms and best practices.
© LALIGA - 2016