Pascale Van Damme succeeds Van den Bulck at the football association

Pascale Van Damme is the first woman to be president of the largest Belgian football association. Her appointment is provisional and will run until June 24, when a new chair will be elected. She has been a member of the Board of Directors since June 5, 2021. Van Damme is independent, not affiliated with any club or movement in the union. She was asked by then CEO Peter Bossaert to ensure diversity in the federation. That was also one of the motivations for Paul Van den Bulck, of Congolese origin, who first became a board member and then chairman.

Van Damme, a former rower, is a successful computer science executive and has held positions at Dell and Agoria. The question now is whether she will become chairman on June 24. To do so, she must get enough votes from the General Assembly.

The Board of Directors wants to guarantee continuity in operation and restore calm through a quick restart. Van Damme wishes to fulfill her role as chairman in a constructive and honest manner, in close cooperation with the members of the board of directors and the executive committee. This was reported by the union in an official statement.

Familiar with operation

Thanks to her experience as a director, Van Damme is familiar with the functioning of the RBFA. Several topics are particularly close to her heart, the football association reports. For example, she wants to contribute to the development of women’s football and bring the World Cup women’s football to Belgium in 2027. She also wants to use her professional expertise to support the RBFA in further digitization in the coming years, and she wants to play out the social role of the RBFA even more. ?

Van Damme is currently abroad and will not communicate until later. For the time being, it remains with an official statement: ‘It gives me great confidence that the entire board of directors and the executive committee want to turn the page together and continue to build the future of the RBFA with united forces. I reach out to the board of directors, the management committee, the Pro League, Voetbal Vlaanderen and the Association des Clubs Francophones de Football to write with me on a bright future for the Red Devils, the Red Flames and the hundreds of thousands of other football players , fans and members we represent.’?

The Pro League did not want to provide the chairman ad interim. After the history with double caps and the Clean Hands operation, that was not appropriate either. So no Michael Verschueren (Anderlecht), Sven Jaecques (Antwerp), Peter Willems (OHL) or Pierre Locht (Standard) at the head of the football association. Vice-chairman Marc Van Craen will soon take up another position and former chairman Robert Huygens has reached the age limit. Remaining: Philippe Godin and Benjamin Vasseur of the French-speaking wing and the only woman, Pascale Van Damme. The choice fell on the latter.