PARIS: The French Football Federation on Thursday gave public backing to Slovenia’s Aleksander Ceferin to become the new UEFA president.
More than 20 countries in the 55-member UEFA have now declared support for the head of the Slovenian Football Federation to take over from Michel Platini in an election on September 14 in Athens.
The French federation said Ceferin’s candidacy “shows a desire for unity and solidarity between federations. His programme is a continuity of the policies led by UEFA in recent years”.
A Ceferin leadership “constitutes an opportunity to strengthen the development, innovation and action in the interests of European football, its federations and its clubs,” said an FFF statement.
UEFA needs a new president after Frenchman Platini was suspended by FIFA for ethics violations. Ceferin is standing against Dutch federation chief Michael van Praag and Spanish counterpart Angel Maria Villar.
