UEFA President, Michel Platini, has been re-elected for a third four-year term at the helm of European football at the XXXIX Ordinary UEFA Congress in Vienna.
According to uefa.com, Mr Platini, who was the only candidate, was re-elected by acclamation by delegates from UEFA’s 54 member national associations.
The Frenchman was elected as UEFA President at the XXXI Ordinary UEFA Congress in Dusseldorf in January 2007, and was re-elected for a second term at the XXXV Ordinary UEFA Congress in Paris.
Mr Platini thanked Europe’s national associations for the confidence they have continued to show in him. “Thank you – thank you very much,” he said. “Thank you for your trust and your kind support. This means more to me than you can possibly imagine.
“I am proud to be your team-mate, proud to be the captain of this winning team and proud of our achievements,” he added. “And I am excited to be taking on the challenges that await us over the next four years.
“I know that I can count on you. And you know that you can count on me,” the UEFA President emphasised.
“It is the closeness of that bond between us that makes us strong and allows us to take these bold and courageous decisions – decisions which always pay off. This mutual trust, this participatory democracy, is our hallmark, our trademark, and we will continue to work this way over the next four years. You have my word on that.
“As you know, my re-election also means that I continue as [world body] FIFA Vice-President for another four years,” Mr Platini continued.
“We Europeans want a strong FIFA – a FIFA that is respectable and respected – since FIFA is and always will be football’s supreme authority, the sport’s ultimate governing body.
“I hope to make the right decisions at the right time, both for you and for football, during my third term,” the UEFA President told the Vienna Congress.
“And I hope to do so while continuing to enjoy myself as much as I have for the past eight years. Because leading this remarkable institution is not just an honour, it is also a genuine pleasure day to day. And for that I can but thank you, once again.”