Swedish Supporter Liaison Officers in Action

Abstract

The Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) role became incorporated into the UEFA li-censing system from the 2012/13 season (UEFA 2012). The introduction of article 35 into the UEFA Club Licensing and Fi-nancial Fair Play Regulations demanded that clubs across Europe have an appoint-ed SLO to ensure the flow of dialogue be-tween clubs, supporters, and other stake-holders. This interview study focusses on how the SLOs themselves perceive their role, its challenges and its adaptation in the Swedish national context. The article documents how SLOs use their position to make the voice of these supporters heard by the club and police. They work to re-solve issues and prevent conflicts which hold the potential to develop into arrests and the criminalisation of supporters. De-spite emphasising their role of being a spokesman for the supporter community, the aim for the SLO is to be seen as a cred-ible and trustworthy mediator between the stakeholders who often have conflicting goals. This is achieved by working to a particular code of ethical conduct that al-lows them to operate with high levels of discretion amongst supporters, while also maintaining an effective working relation-ship with the club and the police.SLO, intervjustudie.</p