Platini to remain UEFA president
Michel Platini will be re-elected unopposed for another four years as UEFA president in March.
Candidates had to be declared by midnight last night if they were going to stand and only Platini has put himself forward.
UEFA said in a statement: “As of today, 23 December 2010, 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.”
Platini, the former France captain and coach, became president in 2007 after beating Sweden’s Lennart Johansson in a hard-fought election contest.
Since then he has overseen some far-reaching changes in European club and international football.
From 2016, the European Championships final tournament will have 24 teams rather than 16, and he has also shaken up the Champions League so that there are more league champions from smaller countries and fewer clubs from the bigger nations in the group stage.
The biggest change could be yet to come with UEFA’s financial fair play rules coming into force from 2012. Under these, clubs in European football will be limited to spending what they earn, although there will be some flexibility in the first years of the scheme.
Platini will be formally re-elected at the UEFA Congress in Paris on March 22.
