Florence, 27 March 2024 – Parma Calcio has participated in the first meeting of the 'Men's High Performance Advisory Group'. Organised and promoted by the ECA in Florence, within the FIGC federal centre at Coverciano, over 50 ECA member clubs convened to create a forum in order to promote the exchange of knowledge between the clubs, develop ideas and skills, and to help refine and improve ECA's position on performance and health with related topics. A select number of Europe's top clubs were present, including Manchester City, PSG, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Benfica and Manchester United. In addition to Fiorentina, Italian teams represented were Inter, AC Milan, Juventus, Sassuolo and Roma.

After the workshop by the Parma Calcio scientific committee, with partners among the most renowned European universities, this was another step towards the Club’s international growth in training and development parameters. Mathieu Lacome, director of Performance & Analytics, and present at the Men's High Performance Advisory Group, commented: 'It was an honour to be involved with such a prestigious group of participants, from the biggest clubs in Europe. This shows that the work we started three years ago is now recognised and appreciated. The presentation made by clubs like Manchester City gives us new goals in terms of development. We must continue to progress and innovate, football is changing rapidly.'

The two days of work were very intense and represented a great moment for discussion to give continuity to the forum - already operational - for the performance of women's football that the ECA has created, and which it has already obtained appreciation and recognition for. Precisely for this reason, the ECA has applied the same principle of development and research on men's performance, with the aim of further developing its status as the main football stakeholder when it comes to medical and high-performance projects. The advisory group will focus on men's football and support the achievement of the strategic objectives of the medical group and ECA performance.

The ECA Men's High Performance Advisory Group will have in-person forums, with two annual meetings, as well as online appointments and webinars.