Lille's Olivier Létang and OM's Stéphane Richard face off in Copenhagen for the EFC seat

While the board of the European Football Clubs (EFC) is awaiting its new member, the president of Lille, Olivier Létang, and the president of Olympique de Marseille, Stéphane Richard, are presenting themselves as candidates. The election will be held this Tuesday in Copenhagen, and the two French executives are looking to succeed Pablo Longoria, who left the post in February 2026.

The context of the vacancy

Longoria, elected board member in September 2023, simultaneously gave up the presidency of the Marseille club, his vice‑presidency of the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), and his seat at the EFC. His resignation left the post vacant until the vote scheduled for this Tuesday in Copenhagen.

The candidates' profiles

Stéphane Richard, Longoria’s successor at OM, is new to the football world but highlights his experience in telecommunications, notably his presidency of the GSMA, the international mobile operators association. Olivier Létang, head of LOSC, draws on fifteen years of experience within the European network, points to Lille’s performances as the second French club in the UEFA coefficient, and stresses his ability to defend the interests of clubs of all sizes.

The two candidacies are part of a small electoral battle described as courteous and without acrimony. The president of the EFC, Nasser al‑Khelaïfi, is not neutral: in September 2023, he had supported the candidacies of Juan Sartori (AS Monaco) and Longoria, while the owner of OM, Frank McCourt, has since adopted a strategy of breaking away from PSG and its president.

The supervisory board of the LFP recently saw the election of Shéhérazade Semsar‑de Boisséson as vice‑president, but Longoria’s seat at the EFC remains to be filled. The Copenhagen decision could influence the representation of French clubs within the association, which brings together nearly 850 professional men’s and women’s clubs.

In parallel, the LFP has launched a hunt for illegal “data scouts,” showing that governance and transparency issues remain at the heart of European football concerns.