Daniel Levy's appointment comes months after Tottenham were part of failed European Super League plans; PSG president and new European Club Association chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi says Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are 'wasting energy' amid legal dispute with UEFA
Tuesday 7 September 2021 12:01, UK
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has been voted onto the executive board of the European Club Association (ECA), just five months after his club were one of 12 involved in plans to form a breakaway Super League.
Levy will be joined on the board by representatives from Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid, two of the other clubs who were founder members of the league in April which quickly collapsed amid fan outrage and opposition from UEFA, national associations and governments.
Nine of the founder clubs were formally readmitted to the ECA last month after they resigned from the organisation to establish the Super League.
Three clubs - Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus - remain committed to the idea of a Super League and are involved in a legal dispute with UEFA.
Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli had been the ECA's chairman, and a member of UEFA's ruling executive committee, until the attempted breakaway in the spring.
The news of Levy's election was confirmed on the second day of the ECA's general assembly in Geneva.
On Monday, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, also chairman of the ECA, addressed the Super League scandal from in their speeches.
Ceferin described those behind the league as "disgraceful and charlatan". In a reference to Al-Khelaifi's predecessor Agnelli, one of the key movers behind the Super League and a former ally, Ceferin said: "When passing through a storm, you need a good captain and the ECA has a good captain. The chairman that took the wheel when the ex-captain escaped from the ship."
Al-Khelaifi said he did not want to focus on the "fabulists and failures" behind the Super League for too long.
"While the three rebel clubs [Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus] waste energies, twist narratives and continue to shout at the sky, the rest of us are moving forward and focusing every energy on building a better future for European football - together as one," he said.
"As you know, for the nine clubs who asked to come back into our family, the ECA board has reintegrated them into our structures with renewed commitments to strengthen our association. I welcome them back to the ECA family."
