Henri Delaunay French Football Federation in 1919, he remained as secretary-general. As a member of FIFA, he sat on its board as deputy from 1924 until 1928. Along with Jules Rimet, he was an early architect of the FIFA World Cup. He was also a very early proponent of the European Champions Cup, as early as the 1920s. Together with Jules Rimet, he was largely responsible for the creation of the European Football Championship, the trophy of which is named after him, having first proposed it in 1927. The first tournament took place in 1960. He was General Secretary of UEFA from
Jules Rimet post until 1954 becoming the longest reigning President to date, taking the membership of the organisation from twelve up to 85 nations, despite losing the membership of the English, Welsh and Scottish Football Associations during the early years. After taking up the post he moved once again to start a global tournament, but was opposed by the amateur football associations and Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee. In 1928 FIFA, under Rimet's leadership, went forward with plans for a "World Cup" which was held in Uruguay due to the nature of the professional game in South America,