After resisting offers to take his team into the ill-fated Super League, Paris Saint-Germain's president was selected to lead the network of European soccer clubs.
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Nasser Al-Khelaifi's selection as European Club Association (ECA) chairman extends a stellar week in soccer politics for PSG and Bayern Munich - the two most notable absentees from the rebel Super League group, which ended the short-lived project on Wednesday.
Without Bayern and PSG, the 12 breakaway 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.
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.
After announcing the now doomed project, the Super League rebels all left the 246-member ECA - which represents clubs from 55 UEFA member associations and was created with the purpose of helping them safeguard their interests in European club football.
Juventus president Andrea Agnelli resigned as ECA chairman, and from UEFA's executive committee on Sunday.
It left Al-Khelaifi as the most prominent board member at the ECA to restore its fractured relationship with UEFA.
"The leadership, integrity and togetherness of our organisation has never been more required than at this pivotal moment in European football," Al-Khelaifi said in an ECA statement.
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.
The Qatari official Al-Khelaifi 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.
When Al-Khelaifi 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.
Rummenigge's legal adviser at Bayern, Michael Gerlinger, was promoted to ECA's first vice chairman.
Al-Khelaifi is a former professional tennis player and close friend to the Emir of Qatar.
Last year, Al-Khelaifi was acquitted by Swiss federal judges on a charge of inciting a former top FIFA official to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement.
Prosecutors appealed in February against the trial verdict.
He has denied any wrongdoing.
Australian Associated Press
