“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”.
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“Be assured I have a clear conscience”, Platini said addressing Wednesday’s gathering stressing that he will continue the legal battle to prove his innocence.
Newly elected UEFA President Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin gestures during a press conference at 12th Extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens, Greece, 14 September 2016.
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. The move came amid threats that the big clubs could form a breakaway Super League.
Ceferin said he is unhappy about how this deal was reached, and sitting down to look at it again will be his first priority.
“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.
Having crossed the Sahara desert four times by vehicle and once on a motorbike, he clearly likes a challenge, though, and he himself listed match-fixing, racism and security as three he must address quickly.
UEFA will be a new test of his taste for adventure and skills in keeping calm as it seeks to overcome the shock of losing ex-leader Michel Platini, implicated in FIFA’s corruption scandals, and facing challenges to its prized Champions League.
But he must also remember he only has his impressive mandate for two and a half years, as he is completing the term started by his disgraced predecessor Michel Platini.
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.
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.
Earlier, Platini who was granted special permission by Federation Internationale de Football Association to address the Congress, insisted that he had done nothing wrong.
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“You are going to continue this wonderful mission without me, for reasons that I won’t go into”, added the former France and Juventus star. “I want to thank everyone in this room who had the courage and loyalty to support me during the past months”. “But that is not important, what is important is football”.
