General Meeting (Asamblea General)

The General Meeting is the club's supreme body. It is composed of all members with voting rights and meets at least once a year (ordinary meeting) to approve previous-year accounts, the new budget and the activity report. Extraordinary meetings are called for specific decisions: statute reform, board election or removal, mergers, dissolution, extraordinary levies.

The statutes define the quorum (percentage of members required for validity), the notice period and channels, and the required majorities. Defaults typically are: 15-day notice, 50% quorum at first call and open at second, simple majority for ordinary resolutions and qualified majority (two-thirds) for statute reform or dissolution.

Mandatory at least once a year (ordinary meeting). Required for any structural decision: approving annual accounts, renewing the board, amending statutes, approving extraordinary levies, ratifying federation membership or dissolving the club. Without minutes those decisions have no legal validity.

• Calling without respecting the notice period: invalidates resolutions and any member can challenge.
• Not checking quorum at the start: without quorum the meeting must be dismissed and re-called.
• Not drafting signed minutes: without minutes there is no proof of the decision, nor can it be filed with the registry.
• Discussing items not on the agenda: unless 100% of members are present and vote in favour, they're invalid.

If you care about this term, you probably also wonder about these:

• Board of Directors (Junta Directiva)

  Administrative

• Statutes (Estatutos)

  Administrative

• Founding Member (Socio Fundador)

  Administrative

• Sports Association (Asociación Deportiva)

  Administrative