Michel Platini reluctantly handed over the reins of power in European soccer to Aleksander Ceferin, a little-known Slovenian lawyer who won the UEFA presidential election by a landslide on Wednesday.
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Ceferin got 42 votes at UEFA’s congress in Athens, 29 more than Dutchman Michael van Praag, to succeed Michel Platini, who resigned a year ago.
“It’s a great honor but at the same time a great responsibility”, said Ceferin, President of the Football Association of Slovenia since 2011, speaking to delegates after the election.
“It’s very emotional for me to be here but I’m also delighted to be here because this will be my last speech to a UEFA Congress”, Platini began. “My small but lovely Slovenia is also very proud, and I hope that one day, you will also be proud of me”.
The lean shaven-headed Ceferin said he has also crossed the Sahara five times, four in a vehicle and once on a motorbike.
Ceferin also identified match-fixing as a key threat he is determined to combat as he admitted that European football faces “many” problems.
UEFA’s executive committee had recently agreed to give Spain, Germany, Italy and England four guaranteed slots each in the Champions League.
“We are the guardians of the lovely game”, Ceferin said.
“He got up and said: ‘I’m young, I’m a new broom, I want to do things differently, I’ve got ideas.'” said Clarke.
“It will be the first thing to deal with”, said Ceferin, who succeeds Michel Platini following his resignation after being banned from all football activity a year ago.
The Frenchman insisted he had done nothing wrong and vowed to continue the fight to clear his name.
Platini used most of his allotted 10 minutes to praise football and UEFA but he started by repeating that he is innocent of any wrongdoing. “People trust me and nobody behind the scenes can have 42 votes”, he said.
“If you want to ask me if he supported me, I hope so”.
“Be assured that I have a clear conscience, that I’m convinced I did not make the slightest mistake, and that I’m continuing the legal battle”, Platini said.
“Thank you for these nine years”.
He told a special congress in Athens: “I am not here to emphasise the negativities that surround us. Friends of football, farewell”.
One of the finest players of his generation who went on to become a powerful sporting official, Platini was suspended over his dealings with fallen world soccer chief Sepp Blatter during the scandal which shook the sport’s global governing body previous year.
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Platini was elected to a third five-year-term in March last year and seemed set to take over Federation Internationale de Football Association from Blatter but was suspended in October over the payment and never returned to his office.
