Ceferin, who denied allegations that those lobbying on his behalf had promised inducements in return for votes and that Federation Internationale de Football Association president Gianni Infantino had backed his campaign in contravention of the rules, invoked a phrase used by the Scottish former Uefa general secretary David Taylor to describe his priorities.
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“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 said.
Prior to the vote, Ceferin used his 15-minute pitch to delegates at the Grand Resort Lagonissi hotel to address the concerns about his age and experience, while boosting his credentials as a “team player” who will be “the most accessible and approachable UEFA president ever”.
“You are going to continue this wonderful mission without me for reasons I don’t want to go into today”.
“For many years, the million dollar deals have been restricted to the big clubs alone”. He said “I am not here to emphasise the negativities that surround us”.
“Democracy has spoken. I respect that”, he said. I think we did a great job …
Ceferin was appointed president of the Slovenian Football Association in 2011 and has a background in law.
“I guarantee you, on my watch I will not allow the clubs to put the gun to our head again”, he had said.
Fifa’s ethics committee handed down an initial eight-year ban to both Blatter and Platini, who have always denied wrongdoing.
He will succeed Frenchman Michel Platini, who quit his post after being banned from football for four years.
Aleksander Čeferin has been elected as UEFA’s seventh President at the European body’s Extraordinary Congress in Athens. About friendship. About football.
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.
“Just simply know that my conscience is clear, that I am certain that I committed not the slightest fault and that I am continuing to fight legally”, the 62-year-old said.
Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn did not go as far as van Praag, the man the FA backed, but said the deal was a “balancing act” between the desires of the big clubs, the more aspirational clubs, broadcasters and commercial partners, and the threat of a breakaway “had some substance to it”.
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Asked whether he thinks the newly-elected Ceferin will look to boost the smaller European nations at the expense of the larger ones, such as England with its powerful Premier League, Clarke was equally unconcerned.
