Rome (AFP) – Nasser al-Khelaifi, the Qatari president of French giants Paris Saint-Germain, was on Thursday officially appointed club representative on UEFA’s Executive Committee, at the Congress of European football’s governing body in Rome.
The 45-year-old had been elected at the end of January at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the European Club Association (ECA) which defends the interests of big European clubs and is chaired by Juventus president Andrea Agnelli.
But his candidacy had yet to be ratified and was done so during the UEFA Congress.
“I would like to thank again my esteemed colleagues at ECA for trusting me to represent them on the UEFA Executive Committee,” said Al-Khelaifi in a statement sent to AFP.
“It is a great honour and together with President Andrea Agnelli we will continue to work closely with UEFA to develop professional football in the interests of all stakeholders.
“I am happy to be part of this great football family today.”
Al-Khelaifi takes over from Ivan Gazidis, former managing director of Arsenal and now in charge of AC Milan.
The PSG president will represent the ECA on the UEFA Executive Committee along with Italian Agnelli.
His appointment comes as PSG are still undergoing a UEFA Financial Fair Play investigation, and has been criticised by Spanish La Liga President Javier Tebas.
“His appointment must be rejected because it violates all the rules of good governance,” Tebas said in a written statement sent to AFP last week.
“Not only because of the record (of PSG) in terms of Financial Fair Play, but also because (Al-Khelaifi) is president of beIN Sports, one of the main holders of television rights of UEFA,” added the president of La Liga.
