Slovenian FA President Aleksander Ceferin "has emerged as a contender" to replace Michel Platini as the next president of UEFA, according to the PA. Platini will "formally step down at an extraordinary general meeting in Athens in September" after he failed to overturn his ban from all football activities at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week. That prompted speculation about "who might replace him," with the early favorites including acting General Secretary Theodore Theodoridis from Greece, veteran Dutch FA President Michael van Praag and Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Angel Maria Villar. But 48-year-old Ceferin "has already been asked by several FAs to put himself forward for what many expect to be a tight race." It is understood that Ceferin "wants to hear more details from Wednesday's meeting about the election calendar, format and likely rivals before committing to run." Two separate sources at last week's FIFA Congress in Mexico City identified him as the "most talented of the young leaders in east European football -- although the ex-Yugoslav state is really a highly-developed nation that bridges east and west" -- and said that he lacks any of the "baggage" that some of his "better-known rivals possess" (PA, 5/17).
GLT TO DEBUT: Wednesday's UEFA Europa League Final will see goal-line technology used officially for the first time in a UEFA competition. The Hawk-Eye system, which has also been approved for use at the Champions League final in Milan and at Euro 2016 this summer, will be deployed in the game between Liverpool and Sevilla in Basel, Switzerland. The UEFA Exec Committee decided in January to introduce GLT (UEFA).
