Ceferin succeeds Michel Platini, who resigned after his ban past year.
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His replacement, Slovenia’s Aleksander Ceferin, was elected immediately afterwards, beating Dutchman Michael van Praag.
Ceferin surprised people when he took over the presidency of Slovenia’s football association, the NZS, in 2011 and quickly joined FIFA’s disciplinary committee and UEFA’s legal committee. “I hope one day you will also be proud”, Ceferin said according to Greek national news agency AMNA.
Ceferin, who was appointed president of the Slovenian FA in 2011 and has a background in law, won 42 of the 55 votes at the Extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens on Wednesday.
Former France worldwide Platini had governed UEFA since 2007 and been re-elected twice until he was banned by FIFA’s ethics committee last October for ethics violations. Gianni Infantino, a career soccer administrator who was Platini’s number two at UEFA, emerged as the surprise victor of FIFA’s presidential election in February.
Former presidents include, Platini, Lennart Johansson, Jacques Georges, Artemio Franchi, Gustav Wiederkehr and Ebbe Schwartz.
The Slovenian lawyer said he will look at the controversial deal that will give more Champions League revenue to Europe’s biggest clubs.
Under the agreement, UEFA has increased the number of slots allocated in the Champions League tournament to clubs from Spain, England, Germany and Italy, which are football’s traditional power-houses in Europe. “A page is turning and this is a new chapter for UEFA”, he said. “Either I want it or not, I will have to deal with it and that will be the first thing to deal with”.
“Thank you. Thank you for these nine years”.
The session was somewhat controversially opened by Platini, who had been granted special permission by FIFA’s ethics committee to bid farewell to the organisation he has run since 2007.
Last month, Delaney publicly backed Ceferin to lead UEFA. I am certain that I committed not the slightest fault and that I will continue to fight this ban in the courts.
“You are going to continue this handsome mission without me, for reasons that I do not wish to come back on”.
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Platini assured UEFA delegates he has a “clear conscience” over the legitimacy of the 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) he received from Federation Internationale de Football Association in 2011 that led to his downfall four years later.
