London: UEFA president Michel Platini is poised to be re-elected to the post after European soccer’s governing body said on Thursday that no other candidates had been put forward.
The election will take place on March 22 at the UEFA Congress in Paris and such is 55-year-old Platini’s popularity that it will come as no surprise he is standing unopposed.
“Only one candidate has been announced: current UEFA president Michel Platini will be seeking a second four-year term of office from 2011 to 2015,” UEFA said in a statement.
Platini, who succeeded Lennart Johansson as president in 2007, is one of soccer’s greatest players and helped France win the 1984 European Championship. He was national team coach between 1988 and 1992.
His election platform for his first term was based on inclusivity and fairness and he has gone a long way to meeting those objectives.
His idea of making the Champions League less elitist, giving a chance for smaller countries to compete with the giants of the game, has generally been well received.
He has also tackled the huge money problems facing the European game with the financial fair play rules which are being phased in and which say clubs must live within their means.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, December 24, 2010, 08:37