Platini tells UEFA ‘my conscience is clear’

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Athens (AFP) – Disgraced football leader Michel Platini said in a farewell speech to UEFA on Wednesday that he felt no guilt over a $ 2 million payment from FIFA that has seen him suspended for four years.

“Just simply know that my conscience is clear, that I am certain that I committed not the slightest fault and that I am continuing to fight legally,” the 62-year-old French football legend told a congress in Athens as it met to elect his successor.

Platini and former FIFA leader Sepp Blatter are both under criminal investigation by Swiss prosecutors over the payment that Blatter authorised in 2011 for work carried out a decade earlier without a contract.

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UEFA election clouded by Champions League rival

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Paris (AFP) – UEFA, the richest and most powerful continental football confederation, elects a new president this week as it confronts a growing challenge to its cash-cow Champions League.

The 55-member European confederation must choose between Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin, 48, and veteran Dutch administrator Michael van Praag, 68, to finish the term of the tainted Michel Platini at a special congress in Athens on Wednesday after an increasingly tense campaign.

Ceferin has the heavyweight support of more than 20 federations including Germany, France, Portugal and Russia, according to the Slovenian Football Association.

England, Belgium and the Netherlands are van Praag’s leading backers. 

“We need an honest football leader. No power hungry politician,” Van Praag said in a tweet last week in reaction to a Swedish media report that suggested his rival had promised Nordic countries they could stage a future European Championship.

Strongly denying the report, Ceferin told PA Sport that Van Praag was “making up stories trying to pollute the pre-election time”.

The two have made promises to improve transparency and governance at the confederation which earns more than the world body FIFA from its flagship tournaments, the annual Champions League and the quadrennial Euro spectacular.

– Champions League controversy –

But the absence of Platini this year as he lost his battle against a FIFA suspension over a $ 2 million payment has seen a growing challenge to the Champions League from within Europe and outside, with the Chinese conglomerate Wanda reportedly ready to finance a rival tournament.

Neither Ceferin nor Van Praag has said publicly how they would steady the ship.

UEFA announced last month that it has decided for 2018-2021 that the four top European leagues — Spain, England, Germany and Italy — will have four automatic places in the Champions League.

But the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) slammed the move as “unacceptable” and threatened last week to hold rival matches at the same time as UEFA competitions.

The EPFL demanded a greater say in major decisions and the renegotiation of its accord with UEFA when Ceferin or Van Praag take office.

The EPFL wants its own seat on the UEFA executive.

The group said UEFA’s reforms were decided without consultation. “This decision will have a detrimental impact on domestic competitions and will lead to an exponential growth in the financial and sporting gap between the biggest clubs in Europe and all the others.”

Bernard Caiazzo, president of France’s Premiere Ligue, has called the move “a disaster” and “a scandal”.

EPFL chairman Lars-Christer Olsson said clubs should only qualify through sporting merit in domestic leagues.

Ceferin told French sports daily L’Equipe he would not be able to change the reform and criticism of the move is expected at the Athens congress.

UEFA also faces pressure from the European Club Association which has repeatedly been at the centre of speculation over a breakaway Super League featuring top teams from England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A.

The ECA strongly welcomed the UEFA reforms which entrenched their place in the Champions League and lion’s share of the league’s multi-billion dollar revenues.

Talk of a breakaway league could be a bargaining ploy to seek concessions from UEFA, one executive member of the continental group said.

But some leagues have acknowledged they are in talks with China’s Wanda group, a top FIFA sponsor as well as holder of a major stake in Atletico Madrid.

“If (European competition) is reorganised as Wanda has set out, there is a greater opportunity to generate more revenue from audiovisual broadcasting,” Javier Tebas, president of Spain’s La Liga told the Financial Times.

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Olympiakos say ‘no wrongdoing’ after UEFA investigation

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Piraeus (Greece) (AFP) – Greek champions Olympiakos on Thursday said that an investigation into the club by European football’s governing body UEFA has found no wrongdoing.

Olympiakos responded with a statement after a report by Britain’s Press Association revealed that the club’s owner, shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis, was being investigated in relation to match-fixing allegations.

“Olympiakos has informed UEFA about the case and is continuing informing them step by step. It is known to everyone that UEFA has examined the information received and concluded that there is no evidence that implicates Olympiakos,” the statement by the club said.

An Athens prosecutor suggested Tuesday that Marinakis be held in custody before he stands trial for his alleged involvement in the establishment of a criminal gang which fixed football matches.

Prosecutor Stamatis Daskalopoulos said that Marinakis, 49, violated an existing order that banned him from getting involved in football activities until his trial and thus should be taken into custody.

The Press Association quoted a UEFA spokesman as saying that an official request has been sent in order to get a copy of the report issued by Daskalopoulos.

A court decision on Daskalopoulos’ proposals is expected within a few days.

Marinakis lashed out at Daskalopoulos saying that his action “is directed against Olympiakos and my activity in the team’s progress.”

“The prosecutor’s proposal will be judged by the Athens Appeals Court in the coming months. I expect a fair judgement by an impartial, independent and free judiciary,” Marinakis said in a statement on the Olympiakos website.

Marinakis said that he would take legal action against Daskalopoulos as well as make a disciplinary report to the proper authorities.

The Olympiakos owner has recently tried to gain a majority share in English club Notthingham Forest and over the weekend secured one of four national television licenses with a bid of 73 million euros ($ 82.1 million, £61.2 million).

Last year, Marinakis was ordered to post 200,000 euros bail and banned from participating in football related activities until a trial is held.

He faces charges for his alleged involvement in the establishment of a criminal gang which fixed matches between 2011 and 2013.

Marinakis has spent six years at the helm of Olympiakos. The Piraeus club have won the league title six seasons in a row.

Besides Marinakis, 27 other people have been recommended by Daskalopoulos to face trial, including former Hellenic Football Federation president Giorgos Sarris, former owners of clubs, referees and players.

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UEFA guarantee four Champions League berths to top leagues

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Monaco (AFP) – The top four leagues in Europe will be guaranteed four places in the group stage of the Champions League from the 2018/19 season, UEFA confirmed on Friday.

The changes affect the top four domestic leagues in UEFA’s ranking, which are currently Spain’s Primera Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga, England’s Premier League and Italy’s Serie A, and will initially run until 2021.

At the moment, only the three leading leagues are guaranteed three places in the group phase, with a fourth team entering in the play-off round.

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