By Andrew Warshaw
July 20 – Spanish football boss Angel Maria Villar Llona has finally confirmed he will run for the presidency of UEFA as the deadline for nominees approaches.
Despite being embroiled in an ongoing domestic spat back home and considered very much one of the old guard of European football, Villar, who has been running the show for nine months in the absence of the banned Michel Platini, has decided he wants the job on a permanent basis.
“Angel Maria Villar has made official his candidacy for the next elections for the UEFA presidency,” the Royal Spanish Football Association said in a brief statement ahead of the midnight deadline.
Villar is the third contender after Slovenian football association boss Aleksander Ceferin and Dutch football chief Michael Van Praag also announced they were hoping to be elected in mid-September.
Platini announced his resignation on May 9 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected his final appeal against a four-year ban over a suspect two million Swiss francs payment he received from FIFA in 2011.
A vice-president of UEFA and FIFA, Villar – who has headed Spain’s association since 1988 – handed over the trophy to Portugal at Euro 2016 and is understood to have Platini’s personal backing to replace him which could prove crucial since the Frenchman still wields considerable influence even if he is no longer in charge of the organisation.
But Villar’s track record hardly inspires confidence given his resistence to change and the fact that last year FIFA fined him CHF25,000 and gave him a warning for his failure to co-operate with investigations into the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively.
It is unclear whether any other candidates will come forward before tonight’s deadline, after which the full list may not be officially announced for several days since all contenders have to go through the required ethics checks.
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