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As Commercial Director, and latterly Director of Marketing and Communications, for The Football Association (The FA), Paul Barber created "FA Partners", The FA's sponsorship programme for 2002–2006 which secured multi million-pound agreements with McDonald's, Pepsi, Carlsberg, Nationwide Building Society, British Airways, Giorgio Armani, Sainsbury's, and Umbro, while shielding The FA's prime assets - The FA Cup and England teams - from title sponsors. Barber secured The FA Council's agreement to rename The Charity Shield as The FA Community Shield to better connect a top sponsor to both the grass roots football community and the highest levels of the game, a sponsorship concept Barber later sold to McDonald's. FA Partners included sponsorship of women's football, courtesy of Nationwide Building Society, for the first time, as well as significant support for grass roots football, an area of the game Barber is believed to be passionate about.
Barber led negotiations for The FA's various long term broadcast media agreements with BSkyB, BBC and ITV ensuring a terrestrial broadcast platform for The FA's major properties and innovative sports coverage from BSkyB together with rights fees worth several hundred million pounds. Following in the footsteps of close friend and former FA chief executive, David Davies, Barber often acted as The FA's public face during a high profile and at times highly controversial period for the organisation which included the last match at the old Wembley Stadium, the appointment of Sven-Göran Eriksson as England coach, Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand's missed drugs test, a threatened England players strike ahead of the crucial European Championship 2014 qualifier in Turkey, and the resignation of chief executive Adam Crozier.
Following The FA's decision to re-build Wembley Stadium, Barber was tasked with finding alternative venues for England's matches, for The FA Cup Final and for The FA Community Shield. Barber's answer was the commercially successful and highly popular 'England on the Road' programme which saw England's senior team and under 21 internationals taken to different English stadiums, including Old Trafford, Anfield, White Hart Lane, Stadium of Light, St James's Park, St Mary's Stadium, Pride Park, and Villa Park during the new Wembley Stadium's construction. The FA Cup Final and The FA Community Shield was moved to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. During the same period Barber led the development of England fans, the FA's official supporters' scheme.
Barber's international football experience extends to him being a senior member of England's official travelling party to major tournaments including UEFA's European Championships in 2000 (in the Netherlands and Belgium) under Kevin Keegan's management, and to the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and Korea when England were led by Sven Goran Eriksson. From 1997 Barber acted as a part-time adviser for The FA's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to stage the World Cup in England in 2006 and, latterly, he provided part-time support from his base in Vancouver for The FA's similarly unsuccessful and controversial 2018 bid campaign.