World Soccer

Ceferin elected UEFA president

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Slovenia’s Aleksander Ceferin promised a “wind of change” within UEFA after being elected as president of European football’s governing body, replacing Michel Platini, who was allowed to address the extraordin­ary election congress in Athens despite being banned from football.

Ceferin, a criminal lawyer who has been the head of the Slovenian FA since 2011, scored a decisive 42-13 votes victory over Dutchman Michael Van Praag.

Ceferin is the seventh president in UEFA’s 62 years and the first from eastern Europe. His manifesto theme had been pitched at mediumsize and small nations – the vast majority of UEFA – and he responded directly to accusation­s that he lacked experience by saying: “Well, I’m almost 50 and have been chairing my own company and the football associatio­n of Slovenia for years now.

“You can say I am young and inexperien­ced, but I think that’s disrespect­ful to all the presidents of small and medium-sized federation­s who, 365 days of the year, have to do more with less.

“Presidents of these federation­s have to be creative, strong and inspiring and, believe me, we have experience.

“Today the wind of change is blowing through European football. It’s the end of one era and start of a new one – an era which marks the end of some privileges from another time.”

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