Last week, acting UEFA President Angel Maria Villar withdrew from the contest to succeed Platini on a permanent basis, leaving Ceferin and Dutch Football Association president Van Praag in the race for the role.
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Infantino did not hang around the Grand Resort Lagonissi long enough to ask if that was the basis of his undoubted backing for Ceferin but the room was full of football associations more than happy to say they had voted for the new man because he was a team player who listens.
Aleksander Ceferin says he believes the overwhelming support he’s received is born from a desire for change, dismissing reports that he received official support from Federation Internationale de Football Association chief Gianni Infantino. “My family is very proud about it, my small and handsome Slovenia is very proud about it and I hope one day you will be very proud of me too”, Ceferin was quoted as saying by Guardian. I hope you enjoyed it and are proud of what we achieved.
The major change agreed upon last month was that Europe’s top four domestic leagues, England, Italy, Spain and Germany will be guaranteed four places each in the group stages of the Champions League from 2018-19.
Newly elected UEFA President Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin gestures during a press conference at 12th Extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens, Greece, 14 September 2016.
His replacement was to be elected immediately afterwards with Slovenia’s Aleksander Ceferin and Dutchman Michael van Praag as the two candidates.
Ceferin takes over from French ex-international midfielder Michel Platini, who resigned after being banned from all football-related activity past year.
“The most important thing is to give that leadership back to UEFA that clearly we have not had since Michel Platini had to step down previous year”, UEFA vice-president David Gill said. “I don’t believe that officials serving for 20 or more years in such key positions is healthy for any organisation”, he said. We have the same goals, look at our programmes.
Ceferin will take on the remainder of Platini’s term of office, until 2019.
He said: “He’ll bring football together, take tough decisions and drive European football forward”.
Platini, whose initial six-year suspension was reduced to four, was granted permission to address UEFA’s Congress in Athens on Wednesday in a farewell speech.
“That is why I wanted to come today to say thank you and, friends of football, farewell”.
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“You are going to continue this attractive mission without me, for reasons that I do not wish to come back on”. “I don’t want to live in an empire of fear where every day we wake and see another negativity surfacing”.
