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Michel Platini wins election as UEFA president
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| zoric |
| quote: | DUESSELDORF, Germany, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Michel Platini of France was voted in as president of UEFA on Friday.
Platini, 51, defeated the Swedish incumbent Lennart Johansson, 77, by 27 votes to 23 in a poll of national Football Association presidents at the UEFA Congress.
Johansson had been in charge of European soccer's governing body since 1990.
Platini, three times former European Footballer of the Year, becomes the first high profile former player to hold such an important position in soccer administration.
He said after his victory: "I am moved, enormously moved but I am happy...it's the start of a great adventure."
Platini, who plans to cut the number of Champions League places open to the big national leagues, had used his final speech before the vote to put the emphasis on soccer's importance as a sport rather than a business.
"Football is a game before it is a product, a sport before it is a market and a show before it is a business," Platini told the Congress on Friday.
Platini also said before the vote that if successful he would propose Johansson should be appointed as honorary president to continue his work.
Platini was one of the most gifted players in the game's history. In 1984 he led France to victory at the European Championship, scoring nine goals in five games, and he was named European Footballer of the year three times.
After playing for Nancy, St Etienne and Juventus, he retired in 1987 and the following year took up his first post within UEFA, as a member of the technical development committee.
He was a co-organiser of the successful World Cup in France in 1998, the year in which he became a personal adviser to FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who in turn endorsed him in the UEFA presidential election.
Platini pledged during the campaign to limit the number of places in the Champions League to a maximum of three, even for the major powers like England, Italy and Spain.
Otherwise there was little difference between the two campaigns, with both candidates promising to intensify the fight against racism, doping, match-fixing and illegal betting.
The lack of major contention between the two meant the fight was largely a friendly one, at least until the intervention of Blatter, who gave his public support to Platini on the eve of the election in a move that infuriated Johansson. |
Lennart Johansson leaves his job after 17 years, Michel Platini takes over. |
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| Aristronica |
| +1. that old bag Johansson. Platini will pull in Beckenbauer and get Blatter to still help out. UEFA will be great again. |
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| TheVrk |
Nice to see.
Platini will ONLY help the game:D |
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| K.I.K.E. |
| quote: | Originally posted by Aristronica
that old bag Johansson. Platini will pull in Beckenbauer and get Blatter to still help out. |
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| zoric |
I think it's nice to see a change up there, sure Johansson has been there for a long time and has a lot of experience even though he's an ass.
A change was needed ;)
What more could you possibly provide at the age of 77? |
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| Aristronica |
| quote: | Originally posted by zoric
I think it's nice to see a change up there, sure Johansson has been there for a long time and has a lot of experience even though he's an ass.
A change was needed ;)
What more could you possibly provide at the age of 77? |
exactly. Platini is closer to the game and has experience on different levels as a player and club adviser... i think he might have coached too?? not sure. Platini knows the real issues facing the game - not just what advisors tell him.
i'm surprised it was even a close vote. |
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| PEZ68 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Aristronica
i think he might have coached too?? not sure. |
French squad during Euro 92 |
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| Aristronica |
| quote: | Originally posted by PEZ68
French squad during Euro 92 |
you see! the man even steered France onto the path that led to the 98 world championship... ohh and i think he cured cancer.
PLATINIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! |
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| The Darklord |
| quote: | Originally posted by PEZ68
French squad during Euro 92 |
And WCH '90.
'bout time someone kicks Johansson out of the chair... |
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