Paul Barber OBE

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Paul Barber OBE

Paul Barber OBE joined the board of Brighton & Hove Albion FC as chief executive in June 2012.

BHAFC

2023-07-06T00:00-04:00

Chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber.

Paul Barber joined the board of Brighton & Hove Albion FC as Chief Executive in June 2012, and became Deputy Chairman in November 2018.

Prior to joining Brighton, Paul was the first British football executive to lead a club in to Major League Soccer when Vancouver Whitecaps FC entered the league in March 2011, and spent over half a decade at Tottenham Hotspur FC, where he was the club’s Executive Director and main board member. Previously, Paul occupied several senior commercial, marketing and communications roles at The Football Association.

In addition to over 25 years working in professional football, Paul spent more than a decade in senior executive positions with major international companies such as Barclays Bank, where he was a member of the retail board, and Ogilvy & Mather, the US-based advertising and communications group, where he was Chief Executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

In February 2025, Paul became the non-executive chair of national charity Football Beyond Borders which uses football to work with young people from areas of socio-economic disadvantage who are disengaged at school. Paul joined the board of Melbourne Victory FC, the Australian A League club, as a non-executive director in September 2025 following Tony Bloom's investment in March 2025. And he had been a non-executive director of Women in Football since 2020. Paul has served as an elected member of The FA Council and Professional Game Board since 2018, and sits on various Premier League and Football Association committees.

Paul was made an OBE in HM The King’s first New Year’s Honour’s List in 2023 for services to football, and received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sussex in the same year. Paul was named “Chief Executive of the Year” at The Football Business Awards in 2013 and 2023, “European Sports Executive of the Year” at the Stadium Business Awards in 2016. He was presented with the prestigious “Off Pitch Award” at the Women’s Football Awards in 2025. Paul was named “Teacher of the Year” by the PFA Business School, where he is a lecturer, in 2025. Paul is an also a guest lecturer for FIFA’s Diploma in Club Management.