Aleksander Ceferin has been named the new president of UEFA.
Ceferin, 48, was named as Michel Platini’s predecessor in Athens on Wednesday as the President of the Slovenian FA has promised to clean up the act of European soccer’s governing body.
Winning by a margin of 42-13 against the head of the Dutch FA Michael van Praag, Ceferin has a background as a lawyer.
After his election at the UEFA congress, Ceferin was aware of how big of a job he has on his hands.
“It is a great honor, but also a great responsibility,” Ceferin said. “It means a lot to me. My small and beautiful Slovenia is very proud of it, and I hope that one day you will also be proud of me.”
Ceferin will be in office until 2019 as he succeeds Platini, the former head of UEFA who has been banned from all soccer activity for four years after FIFA’s ethics committee found him guilty of accepting a $1.9 million payment in 2011 from former FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Platini has pleaded his innocence but his case is still under review by the Swiss authorities.
Speaking before the election, Ceferin was particularly upset about UEFA’s new rules for the Champions League which will see four teams from each of the four ranked nations guaranteed places in the group stage in the next cycle of the tournament.
He has previously stated his main aims will be to kick out match-fixing in European soccer and to help develop the smaller to medium sized nations in UEFA.
.NBCSports
