The European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) competition organizing body has appointed John Barton as its new chief commercial and marketing officer.
Based out of EPCR’s Lausanne headquarters, he will head up the organization’s commercial, marketing, and broadcast teams.
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In addition, Barton will lead the Rugby World Club Cup project alongside EPCR chief executive Jacques Raynaud.
Barton joins from the Team Marketing agency, where he led the commercial development and sales of sponsorship and licensing rights for UEFA’s men’s soccer club competitions (which Team no longer holds commercial rights to).
He spent over 20 years at the Switzerland-based firm, with experience across sponsorship, licensing, media rights, and event operations.
Raynaud said of his appointment: “We have made a really strong appointment in John to lead the commercial, marketing, and broadcast teams at EPCR. These are three crucial areas of revenue generation for EPCR, and John’s strong leadership will ensure we are maximising our opportunities to return revenue back to our leagues and clubs.
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By GlobalData“John’s superb background extends across legal and business affairs, event operations and sponsorship sales and delivery. We are confident John will bolster the current leadership team and bring new energy and experience, as well as working closely with me to progress our World Champions Cup project.”
Barton added: “I am really excited to be joining Jacques and the team at EPCR and am looking forward to working together to grow the existing competitions, which showcase the very best of international club rugby, and to develop future opportunities.”
EPCR organizes Europe’s top-tier Champions Cup and second-tier Challenge Cup club rugby union tournaments, which involve teams from England, France, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, South Africa, and Italy.
In May, the body announced that it will launch its first Rugby World Club Cup in 2028 after unanimous agreement from leagues and unions.
The tournament will take place every four years and feature 16 teams – eight from the top-tier Champions Cup and seven drawn from the Super Rugby Pacific competition (featuring sides from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and the Pacific Islands), while one team will come from Japan.
