Uefa president: Aleksander Ceferin elected to succeed Michel Platini
Ceferin is a lawyer from Slovenia and serve until 2019
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Your support makes all the difference.Aleksander Ceferin has been elected to succeed banned Michel Platini as president of Uefa.
The 48-year-old Slovenian lawyer will complete Platini’s four-year presidential term through to 2019 with the former France captain currently serving a four-term Fifa ban over improper payments.
Ceferin, although relatively unknown, is the president of the Slovenian football federation and beat Uefa vice president Michael van Praag to the vote in Athens.
Dutchman Van Praag was publically backed by the FA but lost the election to become the organisation’s seventh president in its 62-year history 42-13.
"My small and beautiful Slovenia is very proud about, it and I hope one day you will also be very proud of me," Ceferin told UEFA delegates.
"Some people may have said that I am not a leader, that I am too young and too inexperienced to become the next UEFA president.
“It's not because you repeat again and again, loud and clear 'I am a leader' that you are a leader. If you have to do it you are probably not a leader.
"You can say that I am young and experienced but I honestly think it disrespectful for all small and medium-sized federations who, 365 days a year, have to do more with less.”
The conference was also attended by Platini, who is banned by Fifa’s ethics committee for taking a payment of 2 million Swiss francs in 2011.
He was given release to address the delegates in attendance on Wednesday as a ‘gesture of humanity’.
"Be assured that I have a clear conscience, that I'm convinced I did not make the slightest mistake, and that I'm continuing the legal battle," Platini said.
"I want to thank everyone in this room who had the courage and loyalty to support me during the past months."
For Ceferin, his immediate attention will be taken up by attempting to heal the rift in European football created by an alleged ‘secret deal’ to increase Champions League places for the continent’s richest clubs.
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