Crossword Genius

Association footballers' union (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

uefa

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'union' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'association footballers'' is the wordplay.
'association' becomes 'ue' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'footballers'' becomes 'FA' (Football Association abbreviation).
'ue'+'fa'='UEFA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for uefa that I've seen before include "Soccer union (abbrev.)" , "Football cup" , "Organisers of Champions League" , "Sporting administrator" , "European soccer association" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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