<p>GENEVA — After resisting offers to take his team into the ill-fated Super League, Paris Saint-Germain’s president was picked to lead the network of European soccer clubs on Wednesday.</p>
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<a href="https://www.ecaeurope.com/news/eca-appoints-paris-saint-germain-s-nasser-al-khelaifi-as-chairman/">Nasser Al-Khelaïfi’s selection as European Club Association chairman</a> extends a stellar week in soccer politics for PSG and Bayern Munich — the two most notable absences from the rebel Super League group, which ended the short-lived project Wednesday.</p>
<p>Without Bayern and PSG, the 12 Super League clubs were isolated in England, Spain and Italy even before a massive backlash led by fans worldwide helped end the project in less than three days.</p>
<p>Bayern and PSG, which met in last years Champions League final, now hold both seats kept for clubs on the UEFA executive committee, which ultimately makes decisions on competition changes.</p>
<p>The Super League rebels all left the 246-member ECA after announcing their project.</p>
<p>Juventus president Andrea Agnelli also resigned as ECA chairman, and from UEFA’s executive committee.</p>
<p>It left Al-Khelaïfi as the most prominent board member at the ECA to restore its fractured relationship with UEFA. </p>
<p>“The leadership, integrity and togetherness of our organisation has never been more required than at this pivotal moment in European football,” Al-Khelaïfi said in an ECA statement. </p>
<p>He was hailed as “a great man” by UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin on Tuesday when the European soccer body had its annual meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, amid the turmoil.</p>
<p>The Qatari official also heads Doha-based broadcaster beIN Sports Group, which is one of UEFA’s biggest commercial partners with a slew of Champions League broadcast rights.</p>
<p>When Al-Khelaïfi was handed a new three-year mandate on UEFA’s ruling committee on Tuesday, he was joined by long-time Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who replaced Agnelli.</p>
<p>Rummenigge’s legal adviser at Bayern, Michael Gerlinger, was promoted Wednesday to be the ECA’s first vice chairman.</p>
<p>Al-Khelaïfi is a former professional tennis player and close friend to the Emir of Qatar. He took over at PSG when the club was bought by Qatar after the gas-rich emirate was picked by FIFA in 2010 as host of the 2022 World Cup.</p>
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