By Andrew Warshaw
December 29 – The deadline for rival candidates may have passed with little fanfare because of the Christmas holiday period but it is now clear that UEFA president Michel Platini, as expected, will run unopposed for re-election when his term expires at the UEFA Congress in Vienna at the end of March.
Whilst all attention is focussed on the FIFA presidential vote in May and who, if anyone, will take on Sepp Blatter, UEFA confirmed that Platini will be seeking a third mandate until 2019.
“The cut-off deadline of 24 December 2014 has passed for submissions of candidacy for the position of UEFA President in the election to take place at the XXXIX Ordinary UEFA Congress in Vienna on 24 March 2015,” UEFA said on its website.
“As of today, 26 December 2014, only one candidate has been announced: current UEFA President Michel Platini, who will be seeking a third four-year term of office from 2015 to 2019,” the statement added.
Whilst no-one expected Platini to be challenged, a third term would appear to contradict UEFA’s position that at world level the president should serve a maximum of two mandates.
Nevertheless Platini, still only 59, has a number of major tasks to complete as head of the European confederation having announced earlier this year that he would not be going up against Blatter for the top job.
UEFA are actively seeking someone to back as an alternative candidate to Blatter who looks at this stage as though he will clinch a fifth term at the end of May.
The election of Platini in March will not be the only vote at UEFA’s congress. Seven places on the UEFA executive committee are up for grabs as well as a FIFA vice-president, a FIFA vice-president representing the four British associations since Northern Ireland’s Jim Boyce is about to retire, and a FIFA executive committee member.
Meanwhile Platini insists he intends to press ahead with his latest revolutionary plan, this time to introduce white cards signifying sinbins, or temporary dismissals.
Speaking on the opening day of the Dubai International Sports Conference Platini said the idea, which he first floated in October and is an integral part of some other sports, would help promote fair play.
“I am in favour of temporary sending offs for players who criticise the referee,” Platini said. “We will test this at youth championships. Maybe it will be interesting to create a white card like in rugby, where if someone is not behaving properly the white card will see players sent off for a few minutes.”
Alongside Platini was UEFA’s chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina who took the opportunity to plug UEFA’s now firmly established but not universally popular policy of having two additional assistants to aid refereeing decisions.
“Having two referees can improve the whole game,” said Collina . “In the penalty area, there can be many different episodes where a second referee can give a good contribution.”
Collina also believes that some current laws of the game need to be simplified, not least the offside rule.
“There are different types of offside rules. It is difficult to find common and ethical standards to simplify the offside rule,” he said. “We need to allow people who are in front of the TV to understand offside, too. We need simple rules, which can be understood by everybody.”
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