Michael van Praag fails to win Uefa chairmanship
Michael van Praag has lost his bid to take over the Uefa chairmanship to Slovenia’s Aleksander Ceferin.
Ceferin, a relative unknown, won 42 votes compared with the Dutch FA chief’s 13. Germany, France, Russia and various Scandinavian countries had earlier thrown their weight behind Ceferin, so the result was not a surprise, broadcaster NOS said.
‘Aleksander and I were rivals but no longer,’ Van Praag said after the votes had been counted. ‘I had gladly won, and I fought a fair fight. And that is how we want things to be. We both want to create a different, better Uefa. Ceferin deserves all our support and he can count on mine, if he wants it.’
Ceferin replaces Frenchman Michel Platini who was suspended following revelations about a dubious deal made with the former Fifa chairman Sepp Blatter.
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