PSG president Al-Khelaifi replaces Juve's Agnelli as ECA chairman

(Reuters) - Paris St Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has been elected chairman of the European Club Association (ECA), the body said on Wednesday, replacing Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli who quit on Sunday.

Agnelli resigned after Juventus joined 11 other clubs from England, Spain and Italy in forming a breakaway Super League which collapsed on Wednesday as eight founding members abandoned the project following massive criticism.

The ECA represents over 200 clubs from 55 UEFA member associations and was created with the purpose of helping them safeguard their interests in European club football.

"I am honoured and humbled to have been appointed by my fellow ECA Executive Board Members as chairman," Qatari Al-Khelaifi said in a statement https://www.ecaeurope.com/news/eca-appoints-paris-saint-germain-s-nasser-al-khelaifi-as-chairman.

"The leadership, integrity and togetherness of our organisation has never been more required than at this pivotal moment in European football.

"I, alongside all my fellow ECA board members and clubs, am looking to reinforce ECA in its role as the legitimate and singular voice of Europe's clubs."

UEFA president Alexsandr Ceferin welcomed the election of

Al-Khelaifi.

"Football needs good people in senior roles and Nasser is someone who has shown he is capable of looking after the interests of more clubs than just his own - which should be a pre requisite for the position of ECA chair," Ceferin said in a statement.

"I look forward to working with him to shape the future of club football at a European level. He is a man I can trust."

Earlier this week, the 12 clubs involved in the formation of the Super League quit their positions with the ECA.

The ECA said it welcomed the decision made by the majority of the clubs in not pursuing the breakaway project.

"ECA firmly believes this project could not succeed because football, at its core, is based on openness, sporting excellence and an inherent connection between everyone across the football family," it said.

"Football is for everybody. Recent events have been a reminder that club owners are merely custodians of their clubs, which are historic beacons that mean so much to fans and their communities."

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Ed Osmond)