Parry Hails New Euro Club Group
Parry and Rummenigge (AKA Rubber Knickers) discuss European football
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BBC Football
Liverpool chief Rick Parry said his appointment to the newly-formed European Club Association’s board will be beneficial for English football.
Parry joins his Chelsea counterpart Peter Kenyon on a 15-man board which will play a key role in running the European game over the next two years.
“It is vitally important that there is an English voice,” said Parry.
Rangers director John McClelland was also elected to the group to represent Scottish football views.
The European Club Association (ECA) replaces the G14 which was a group represented by elite football clubs in Europe.
“This body has far greater credibility than G14, both with fellow clubs and European football governing body Uefa, because it was always seen as an elite group. Now we have clubs with widely diverging interests,” added Parry.
In total, the ECA will have 102 members, including one from each of Europe’s 53 national associations.
Meanwhile, the Uefa Cup could be rebranded as the Europa Cup from the start of the 2009-10 season, and given a greater push to raise its profile.
“I believe we have to change the branding in order to increase the prize money and make the competition more interesting for the participating clubs,” said Bayern Munich chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who is likely to be voted as the ECA’s new chairman on Tuesday.
Uefa confirmed that a final decision would be made at its executive committee meeting in Bordeaux at the end of September.
