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Platini elected as new UEFA President
FIFA & UEFA - 29 January, 2007
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Michel Platini, the 51-year-old Frenchman, was elected as the new president of UEFA on Friday after he narrowly beat incumbent Lennart Johansson in a close vote.
Platini received 27 votes while Johansson received 23, with two votes found invalid.
The controversial involvement of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who told delegates at the UEFA Congress he supported Platini, cannot have surprised Johansson. Ever since Blatter won the race against Johansson for the FIFA chair in 1998, he was consistently asked questions of his administration; about FIFA finances, about corruption and lack of transparency and all manner of dodgy dealings. "Blatter has sold FIFA's family jewels," Johansson said. "It has become personal with Mr Johansson," Blatter said.
According to Platini, Blatter's intervention might have added him few votes, but might have cost him a few as well.
Platini plans to reduce the number of foreigners per club to five and to limit the number of Champions League places per country to three, a policy that would take one slot away from the top European leagues while helping smaller nations who have to trek through qualifying rounds.
The changes to the Champions League format will be discussed by the FIFA executive committee in April and introduced only from 2009-10 when new TV contracts will be in place.
Platini's intentions worries the more powerful nations in European football, where Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and others already advised him against changes in the Champions League, a tournament Johansson has done a fine job in building up.
Platini, however, can not implement any changes unilaterally, and he will have to battle and win over the members of the FIFA executive committee who indicated already on Friday they had little favour with his ideas.
Platini would also like to develop all other UEFA competitions, including the UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup, and youth and women's championships.
Johansson, the 77-year-old Swede, probably beaten by the date on his birth certificate, is ending a successful 17 year regime as UEFA president, the most powerful post in European football. Upon election, Platini immediately proposed that Johansson will become UEFA honorary president.
Platini received 27 votes while Johansson received 23, with two votes found invalid.
The controversial involvement of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who told delegates at the UEFA Congress he supported Platini, cannot have surprised Johansson. Ever since Blatter won the race against Johansson for the FIFA chair in 1998, he was consistently asked questions of his administration; about FIFA finances, about corruption and lack of transparency and all manner of dodgy dealings. "Blatter has sold FIFA's family jewels," Johansson said. "It has become personal with Mr Johansson," Blatter said.
According to Platini, Blatter's intervention might have added him few votes, but might have cost him a few as well.
Platini plans to reduce the number of foreigners per club to five and to limit the number of Champions League places per country to three, a policy that would take one slot away from the top European leagues while helping smaller nations who have to trek through qualifying rounds.
The changes to the Champions League format will be discussed by the FIFA executive committee in April and introduced only from 2009-10 when new TV contracts will be in place.
Platini's intentions worries the more powerful nations in European football, where Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and others already advised him against changes in the Champions League, a tournament Johansson has done a fine job in building up.
Platini, however, can not implement any changes unilaterally, and he will have to battle and win over the members of the FIFA executive committee who indicated already on Friday they had little favour with his ideas.
Platini would also like to develop all other UEFA competitions, including the UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup, and youth and women's championships.
Johansson, the 77-year-old Swede, probably beaten by the date on his birth certificate, is ending a successful 17 year regime as UEFA president, the most powerful post in European football. Upon election, Platini immediately proposed that Johansson will become UEFA honorary president.
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