Malta FA president Norman Darmanin Demajo said the election of Aleksander Ceferin as the new head of UEFA sends out a strong message that the members of the European body are willing to start a new chapter after a turbulent period caused by the enforced resignation of Michel Platini.
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“About the Champions League, we were not informed properly, I still think so”, the Slovenian football leader told a press conference after his victory in becoming UEFA’s leader with a 29-vote majority over Dutch rival Michael van Praag.
Ceferin has been head of the Slovenian Football Association and part of UEFA’s Legal Committee since 2011. I hope you enjoyed it and are proud of what we achieved.
His key pledges include term-mandate limitations for key Uefa executive, to battle match fixing and a more transparent bidding process for the Champions League finals and European Championships.
Platini was banned from football in connection for what Swiss prosecutors described as a disloyal payment of some 2 million Swiss francs (2 million dollars) he received from then FIFA president Joseph Blatter in 2011 for work done as a FIFA presidential adviser a decade earlier.
Fifa’s ethics committee handed down an initial eight-year ban to both Blatter and Platini, who have always denied wrongdoing.
“You can say that I’m young and inexperienced but I honestly think it’s disrespectful to all the presidents of small and medium-sized federations who every year have to do more with less”, he said.
Ceferin succeeds Michel Platini, who resigned after his ban a year ago.
“Today, democracy has spoken”.
FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio admits Aleksander Ceferin’s rise to UEFA power happened “in a way that not even we expected”.
The Frenchman, who resigned in May after being banned from the sport for four years for ethics violations, was given a round of applause by the delegates last night, Australian time, but did not get a standing ovation after his seven-minute speech.
“If you always talk loudly to be a leader, you are probably not one”, he said.
Platini, who left the stage to a smattering of applause, added: “I want to thank everyone in this room who had the courage and loyalty to support me during the past months”.
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“I would like to thank the countries that supported me from the beginning to the end and I call on them to stand behind Aleksander”.
