By Andrew Warshaw
Michael van Praag says he will endeavour to “completely overhaul” UEFA if he becomes president in succession to Michel Platini next month, turning Europe’s governing body into a far more streamlined and accountable organisation by cutting administrative costs and helping smaller federations grow and develop.
Like his two rival candidates, the Dutch FA chief is travelling round Europe lobbying fiercely for support in the final weeks of campaigning ahead of the September 14 ballot. He is reluctant to comment on the aspirations of either Aleksander Ceferin – the new kid on the block from Slovenia – or Angel Maria Villar Llona, the controversial Spanish veteran who still has close links with the banned Platini.
But, says van Praag, now is not the time to go for a risky appointment when UEFA is at such a sensitive juncture in terms of its relationship with clubs, leagues and other major stakeholders.
“UEFA needs somebody with experience, who has seen it all,” 68-year-old van Praag, who clearly intends to be more than just a safe pair of hands, told Insideworldfootball in the first of a two-part interview.
“I want to overhaul UEFA in all aspects, to scan the organisation from top to bottom. I’m talking about ethics, morality, openness, finance, transparency, compliance, communication, everything. We really need to ask ourselves the question, what should UEFA do to make itself a better, leaner organisation?”
One of van Praag’s main priorities will be to cut costs and use the money to set up what he describes as an “infrastructure fund.”
“The possibilities for countries in UEFA to have the wealth for proper football development is very divided. In many countries, they don’t even have enough pitches, they don’t enough money for travel. It is the duty of every association to help these countries. It is absolutely necessary to cut costs. I’m of the opinion that UEFA spends money too freely. We have to have a better cost control mechanism.”
Van Praag believes he could save around one fifth of UEFA’s organisational costs, which constitute around 18 percent of its turnover. “If I could save three percent of that 18 percent, I am saving around 55 million Swiss francs.”
That, on paper, represents one million Swiss francs per association, money that would be used to set up the infrastructure fund with “the bigger share of the cake” going to countries that are in development and most in need.
“Look at the number of (UEFA) staff and the amount of expenses,” said van Praag. “We have 535 people working at UEFA. What are they doing and why are they doing it? With the money we save, we can help the small, upcoming markets.”
Van Praag knows all about standing in high-powered elections, having for a while been in the running for FIFA president six months ago before dropping out in order not to split the vote which was ultimately won by Gianni Infantino.
So why is he so keen to take charge at UEFA instead?
“I have been on the executive committee for seven years and I have seen things slide away and change direction compared to how they used to be in terms of the decision-making process.”
“Much of the day-to-day running of the organisation is going very well but a lot can be improved. We used to have executive committee meetings that took an afternoon and the following morning. Nowadays sometimes they take only a few hours without any proper discussion about football.”
One reason for that, he says, is that too many members of UEFA’s inner circle have no equivalent position within their own national federations. Van Praag would like to see a rule change within UEFA preventing such an anomaly in future.
“It’s a fact that 11 members out of 16 in the executive committee are no longer active on their boards. Don’t get me wrong, they are all extremely decent people and I have a lot of time for them all. But some of them have lost contact with football and do not contribute in certain discussions as much as they might.”
“We should have a new regulation – and the Dutch federation proposed this three years ago – where somebody who is no longer an active board member of his association because, say, he has stepped down should not be re-elected at the end of his term at UEFA. That should be the rule.”
The second part of Insideworldfootball’s exclusive interview with Michael van Praag will be published next week.
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