Ceferin, who has been head of the Slovenian football federation only since 2011, added: “We are all exhausted of the current situation and look forward to a normalisation period that will be about positive things, about friendship, about football”.
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Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin has been elected as the new head of European football’s governing body UEFA, promised to stand up to the big clubs.
“We should show we are the ones who are the governing body”, Ceferin said.
“He needs to find a solution on the integrity of European football in general and the European association in particular while at the same time he must find a way to calm down reactions on the new financial deal on the Champions League”.
The football associations of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, with which he shares many ideas on reforming European football, urged him to run, he said.
“Whether I want it or not, I will have to deal with that [Champions League changes] and that will be the first thing to deal with”. Now we know who will lead UEFA and hopefully that will bring about a more united confederation with a clear direction.
“I will have to sit down with all 55 national associations to see what is the agreement and what we can do in the future about it”, he added.
Ceferin’s message to the UEFA congress was that he would be “bold and brave” to improve transparency and confront problems such as match-fixing, racism and stadium security.
“If you always talk loudly to be a leader, you are probably not one”, he said.
Darmanin Demajo said he had met Ceferin on two occasions prior to yesterday’s election.
“It is, by any measure, a meteoric rise to power”.
The Slovenian football boss only took over as head of the Slovenian FA in 2011.
On top of the absence of Platini since October, after he was suspended over a $2 million payment from FIFE, UEFA has also faced disquiet over changes to the Champions League and speculation that major clubs could break away to form their own tournament. The outcome of the vote came as no surprise as Ceferin received overwhelming support from the north of Europe and the east.
The post “Unknown” Ceferin gets UEFA top job, targets reforms appeared first on Punch Newspapers.
“It is the end of one era and the start of a new one”, Ceferin said in a speech to a special congress in Athens shortly after Platini gave a farewell address and left through a side door. “I am continuing to fight legally”.
I have a clear conscience.
“You are going to continue this lovely mission without me, for reasons that I do not wish to come back on”.
But the status quo was rudely broken by the corruption scandal that engulfed Federation Internationale de Football Association a year ago and led to Blatter and Platini both being banned by FIFA’s ethics committee.
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The 61-year-old Platini stepped down as UEFA president in May after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected his appeal against his six-year ban from all football-related activities, handed down by FIFA last December.
