The 61-year-old’s replacement will be either unheralded Slovene Aleksander Ceferin or veteran Dutchman Michael van Praag.
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The victor of the vote in Athens will have to seek re-election before UEFA’s next major event, the 2020 European Championship, which Ceferin said should never have been spread across the continent for the first time.
The new president will face re-election before the next Euros; but the selection of a host for 2024 is anticipated in 2018 and so a decision on whether to continue with the format implemented by Platini will likely need to be made by the new president and his committee. “We have to adopt term limits for presidents and ExCo [executive committee] members because you can not stay in a certain position for 20 years”, he said.
A document by the influential European Club Association, obtained by the AP, said “UEFA accelerated the process” in part to “avoid interference with UEFA presidential election process [to not allow the topic to be subject of political capture]”.
The UEFA presidential election favorite has criticized the secret deal guaranteeing four Champions League group-stage places for Europe’s top four leagues.
Disadvantages: Questions will be asked if he is able to handle such a demanding job.
Van Praag said it was wrong to point the finger at UEFA and that the ECA was not run democratically.
“The last thing they want is a split in the market”, he said.
Van Praag said he would hold fresh talks over the Champions League if elected, saying key stakeholders had been left out in the cold.
He has said UEFA must make sure the big clubs do not form a breakaway league and tackle the gap between the rich clubs and the rest, although he realises this will not be easy. And he has certainly raised the Slovenian FA’s game since taking charge in 2011.
“The Uefa Congress should showcase the programme of its new president and not the mistakes of his predecessor”, Grindel said.
His absence of pedigree within European football’s governing body and FIFA has actually been his biggest selling point, with his supporters claiming that he is free of the “baggage” that numerous game’s top administrators carry now.
Ceferin is expected to pull in between 30 and 40 votes of the 55 being cast and appears to have significant backing from numerous major nations including Germany, Russia, France and Italy – the Scottish FA confirmed on Tuesday that it intends to support Ceferin.
Like Van Praag, the former Olimpija Ljubljana director comes with no baggage but he has also built a reputation among senior UEFA staff as a pragmatist who looks for consensus.
Gianni Infantino, Platini’s former number two at UEFA who was elected as the head of world football’s governing body FIFA in February, admitted he was “very sad” about the CAS decision after replacing Blatter.
That led to an ugly spat between the two candidates with Ceferin denying the allegations and Van Praag accusing him of being a “power hungry politician who can not be trusted”.
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Who are the home nations backing? Though it is unlikely to have a hugely damaging impact when it comes to the vote in Athens.
