This week in Athens, the Annual Meeting of the World Leagues Association (WLA) took place, hosted by Super League Greece. The event brought together more than 40 professional leagues from across the globe, along with representatives from the European Leagues, FIFPRO, FIFPRO Europe, UEFA, FIFA, EFC, and IFAB.

The Ukrainian Premier League was represented at the meeting by UPL President Ievgen Dykyi and the Director of the International Relations and Development Department, Roman Kryvoruchko.

The primary topics of discussion were the future of global football given the rapid overload of the international match calendar and the necessity of establishing a transparent and balanced dialogue that accounts for the interests of all parties involved in football governance.

In response to the growing number of international matches in recent years, the WLA reaffirmed its joint position with FIFPRO, which was presented to FIFA. This position advocates for the creation of a global regulation system for the international calendar based on the principles of collective decision-making.

The leagues emphasized that national championships — which unite more than 4,000 clubs and 130,000 professional footballers — must remain at the centre of the international football policy-making process.

As part of the event, the UPL delegation also held a series of bilateral meetings with the leadership of leading football leagues, including the English Premier League and the Polish Ekstraklasa.

During these talks, the parties discussed potential memorandums of cooperation, the implementation of joint projects, and the expansion of knowledge-sharing in league management development and the effective commercialization of media rights.