The RBFA board accepts the resignation of Paul Van den Bulck and appoints Pascale Van Damme as first female president

Resignation Paul Van den Bulck accepted 

The RBFA board acknowledges the resignation of its independent president, Paul Van den Bulck. It accepts this resignation as director and president. The Board thanks the president for his work. It particularly respects his decision, which is in line with the external control role that he was responsible for ensuring. The board also expressed its gratitude to him for the mandate as a member of the UEFA strategic committee, which he had obtained in favour of the RBFA. 

"I am pleased to have had the opportunity to serve the RBFA to the best of my ability and to have helped overcome the challenges of the last few months, in a post-Covid situation and difficult economic crisis. I have devoted all my energy to continuing to professionalise and develop the RBFA as a team."

– Paul Van den Bulck

The RBFA board thanks Paul for his commitment over the past years and wishes him every success in his other professional activities. 

Pascale Van Damme unanimously appointed president 

Pascale Van Damme is vice-president EMEA VMware at Dell Technologies and chair Digital Industries at Agoria. She joined the RBFA board on 5 June 2021. Today, she was unanimously appointed as the new president of the RBFA board. 

With this quick relaunch, the RBFA board wants to guarantee continuity and restore calm. Van Damme wishes to fulfil her role as president in a constructive, honourable and collaborative manner, and in close cooperation with the members of the RBFA board and the board of directors. ​ ​ ​

"It gives me great confidence that the entire RBFA board and the board of directors want to turn the page together, and continue to build the future of the RBFA with united forces. I am reaching out to the RBFA board, the board of directors, the Pro League, Voetbal Vlaanderen and the Association des Clubs Francophones de Football to join me in writing a bright future for the Red Devils, the Red Flames and the hundreds of thousands of other footballers, fans and members we represent. Better Together!"

– Pascale Van Damme, chairman of the ​ RBFA

Thanks to her experience as a director, Van Damme is familiar with the ins and outs of the RBFA. There is a lot of work to be done, with important projects such as the further development of qualitative refereeing, the supervision of an audit into the optimisation of internal processes and the selection procedure of a CEO. ​ 

There are a number of topics that are particularly close to her heart. For instance, she wants to help develop women's football and bring the Women's World Cup to Belgium in 2027. She also wants to use her professional expertise to support the RBFA in its further digitalisation in the coming years and she wants to play out the RBFA’s social role even more. ​

"We want to emphasise our commitment to the RBFA board and continue to build the future of the RBFA together. The choice of Pascale Van Damme as the first female chair is a new milestone in the history of RBFA. I wish her good luck in her new assignment and look forward to our collaboration!"

– Manu Leroy, CEO a.i. RBFA 

Note: Pascale Van Damme currently resides abroad, and is therefore not available for interviews. Together with Manu Leroy, she will speak to the press later. A press invitation will follow later this week.