The move, which required a statutory change, was approved at the organisation's Congress in Scottish capital Edinburgh today.

European Leagues represents 32 football leagues in 25 countries across the continent.

As well as the change of name, a new manifesto was launched today to "reaffirm and set out the Leagues' commitment to the future of European football".

This sets out a goal "to protect and enhance competitive balance in professional league competitions for the good of the game, the players, the fans and the club".

According to European Leagues, all clubs, and not just a few, must have the possibility to compete at the highest levels.

With the same richer clubs dominating most divisions in the continent, it remains to be seen if this is a feasible target.

"The EPFL acronym was a little bit cumbersome and not reflecting our DNA as competition organisers so changing to European Leagues makes complete sense for us and hopefully for the wider football community," said European Leagues President Lars Christer Olsson.

"More importantly this process of changing our name and corporate identity has given us the opportunity to reassess and reaffirm who we are and what do we stand for.

"Each member league has today signed our new manifesto."

European Leagues will change its website address and Twitter handle following the name change.

England's Premier League, Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A and Germany's Bundesliga are all part of the umbrella body.

"Protecting and enhancing competitive balance in our professional football leagues is at the core of who we are," Olsson added.

"We believe that all our clubs, not just a few, should have the possibility to compete at the highest level. 

"It is our firm view that as more and more money gets given to a small number of elite clubs, competitive balance is under thereat like never before. 

"It is not good for our leagues, it is not good for the vast majority of clubs and it is most certainly not good for fans.

"What can we do about it? 

"In our manifesto we have outlined three main areas. 

"Good governance principles for one. 

"The essence of sporting merit and sporting ability as the deciding factor in winning or losing and finally a real commitment to the principle of solidarity. 

"There is a lot of talk about the equitable sharing of financial resources across clubs but the reality is the rich just get richer and we are determined that has to stop." 

The manifesto can be read in full here.