By Andrew Warshaw
December 23 – Michel Platini is to stay in charge of UEFA for another four years after no other candidate came forward to challenge him by last night’s deadline.
Platini was the only person who put himself forward and will be re-elected unopposed for a second four-year term at the UEFA Congress in March.
Platini, the former French 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 landmark changes in European club and international football, trying to reduce the impact of an elite few and create a more level playing field.
From 2016, the European Championships finals will be expanded to 24 teams while the Champions League now comprises more out-and-out domestic title winners from smaller countries and fewer clubs, in the group stage, from the bigger nations.
The most widely anticipated change, however, is UEFA’s financial fair play blueprint which comes into force from 2012.
Clubs playing in Europe will be limited to spending what they earn though it will be a gradual process for the first three years.
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