Uefa Appoints New President

13 Sep 2016 | tshego

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UEFA has elected Aleksander Ceferin as its new president, officially succeeding Michel Platini on Wednesday.

The Slovenian lawyer will complete the suspended Platini’s four-year presidential term through until 2019, while the former France captain serves a four-term FIFA ban over an improper payment.

Čeferin, the head of the Slovenian federation, beat UEFA vice president Michael van Praag of the Netherlands 42-13 in the vote at the European body’s Extraordinary Congress in Athens.

Aleksander Čeferin was elected as Football Association of Slovenia president in 2011 and has also served as a second and third vice-chairman of the UEFA Legal Committee since 2011.

The 48-year-old, who has never served on UEFA’s executive committee, is the seventh president in the 62-year history of UEFA.

Čeferin said combining running a law firm in Slovenia with leading the country’s soccer federation required him to be “creative, strong and inspiring.”

“You can say that I am young and experienced but I honestly think it disrespectful for all small and medium-sized federations who, 365 days a year, have to do more with less.”

UEFA was forced to call the special election after Platini was banned by FIFA’s ethics judge last year for taking a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) from the global governing body in 2011.

Despite being banned from holding any position of power or involvement in soccer, Platini was allowed by FIFA’s ethics judge to address UEFA delegates on Wednesday as a “gesture of humanity.”