UEFA president Ceferin promises bright future in new term

ROME, Italy: UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin was handed a new four-year term on Thursday and promised a bright future despite the “complex challenges” ahead for European football’s governing body.

The 51-year-old Slovenian lawyer was the only candidate going forward for election at the UEFA Congress in Rome and was voted in by acclamation.His election was in contrast to the situation when he took over two and a half years ago, with football in turmoil amid a corruption scandal that toppled his predecessor Michel Platini.

Ceferin told UEFA’s 55-member associations who elected him unopposed that “with unity restored” he was taking over with “fewer doubts and less scepticism than back then”.“So, what’s going to happen now? That is the question many people were asking when I was elected two and a half years ago,” said Ceferin.

“At that time, football, at both world and European levels, was being rocked by the most serious governance crisis in its history and yet you decided to entrust the keys to the UEFA house to a virtual unknown.”Having previously been largely charged with putting in place measures voted for under the previous regime of Platini and current FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Ceferin can now hope to really make his mark and implement his own changes.

“We are going to have to think ahead and undertake some major developments,” he added.On top of his agenda for now is a battle with Infantino, who as FIFA president has been promoting a new, expanded Club World Cup and global Nations League. Ceferin is opposed to the projects.

“We must not allow our recent, short-term successes to hide the much more complex challenges that lie ahead,” Ceferin warned.“The most dangerous thing we can do is rest on our laurels and bask in our current situation.”