Aleksander Ceferin of Slovenia has been elected as the new president of UEFA, European football's governing body. Ceferin is to complete the term of banned former President Michel Platini.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/EPA/Y. Kolesidis
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The 48-year-old Ceferin won with ease in Wednesday's UEFA presidential election, taking 42 of the 55 votes. His only competitor, Michael van Praag, 68, took just 13.
Shortly after the result of the vote was announced, Ceferin told the delegates at the extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens that he was proud to be their new president.
"It's a great honor but at the same time a great responsibility," Ceferin said after the decision was announced by acting President Angel Maria Villar, who had also been a candidate before withdrawing from the race last week.
"My small and beautiful Slovenia is very proud about it and I hope that one day you will also be very proud about it."
Van Praag stressed that the two men were competitors, not enemies, and called on all of UEFA's national associations to throw their support behind Ceferin, who will complete Michel Platini's third four-year term, which expires in March 2019.
"Alex and myself have the same goal, look at our programs," van Praag said. "He wanted to do it his way and I wanted to do it my way and today democracy has spoken."
Who is Aleksander Ceferin?
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'Clear conscience'
Earlier, Platini who was granted special permission by FIFA to address the Congress insisted that he had done nothing wrong.
"You are going to continue this wonderful mission without me," Platini said. "I have a clear conscience, I have not made mistakes and will continue my fight in court."
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. However, the CAS did reduce his ban to four years.
FIFA banned Platini over a disloyal payment of some 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros, $2 million), which he received from then-FIFA President Joseph Blatter in 2011 for consulting work done a decade earlier. Blatter was handed a similar ban.
The UEFA presidents
Slovenia's Aleksander Ceferin has been elected as UEFA's new president. He is the seventh man to hold European football's top job.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Bieri
Fresh start
Just months ago Aleksander Ceferin was largely unknown beyond Slovenia. Now, though, the 48-year old is the new UEFA president. Ceferin won the support of the majority of UEFA's national associations in the vote at the extraordinary Congress in Athens - including the German football association (DFB). He is the seventh president in UEFA's 62-year history.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/A. Beno
The diplomat
Ebbe Schwartz was the first president of UEFA. The Dane, who was known as an excellent diplomat, was elected in 1954 and held the position for eight years. In 1964, two years after he left the post, Schwarz died after a heart attack on the way home from the Olympic Games in Tokyo, aged 63.
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Died in office
For 10 years, from 1962 to 1972, the Swiss national Gustav Wiederkehr held UEFA's top job. It was under his stewardship in 1971 that the UEFA Cup, which is now the Europa League, was born. Wiederkehr died at his workplace in Zurich following a heart attack at the age of 66. Hungarian Sandor Barcs took the role of interim chief of operations for half a year.
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A man with pedigree
Artemio Franchi was the only candidate for the post in 1973. The Italian had a footballing pedigree: After his playing career he took up refereeing, before becoming president of Fiorentina. Under Franchi UEFA increased the number of participants in the European championships to eight. In 1983, at the age of 61, Franchi was killed in a car accident leaving UEFA without a president once again.
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From interim boss to president
After Franci's death, UEFA Vice President Jacques Georges took over the president's duties on an interim basis. In 1984, the Frenchman was actually elected to the post. His tenure was marked by a major step forward in the commerialization of European footballl largely through growing television revenues. Georges stepped down in 1990.
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The record holder
Lennart Johansson was elected in 1990 and held the post for 17 years - longer than anyone else. It was during the Swede's reign that the European Cup became the incredibly lucrative Champions League. In 1998 Johansson lost the FIFA presidential election to Joseph Blatter, before losing the 2007 UEFA presidential election to Michel Platini. He was subsequently named UEFA's honorary president.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ Di Nolfi
Fall from grace
After he retired as a player, former Juventus and France star Michel Platini became something of a protégé to the longtime FIFA president, Sepp Blatter. However, FIFA imposed long bans from all football-related activities on both men, after news came out of a dubious payment Blatter made to Platini in 2011. Both men deny any wrongdoing, but appear unlikely to work in football again.
