Aleksander Ceferin has been elected the new president of UEFA.
Ceferin, the head of the Slovenian Football Association since 2011 who came from nowhere to win the support of 42 of the 55 UEFA voting members, won the support of smaller federations by complaining they were not properly consulted about the changes to the Champions League in which Italy, England, Spain and Germany are guaranteed four slots. The deal was agreed upon to keep the bigger clubs from creating their own breakaway competition.
“We were not informed properly, I still think so,” he said after overcoming Michael van Praag, his more experienced Dutch FA rival. “About everything else, we will have to sit down and see what is the agreement and what we can do in future about it.”
Senior Uefa sources said it was highly unlikely that the deal would be unpicked and the FA chief executive, Martin Glenn, said Gill had been careful to walk a difficult tightrope.
“It will be one of Aleksander Ceferin’s first big decisions,” Glenn said. “It hasn’t happened yet so technically it can [be unpicked]. David sought to strike a middle ground between defending English club’s interests and trying to prevent a potential worst-case scenario of big clubs leaving. He was trying to strike the middle ground. He is a bright guy and understands all the trade-offs.”