Four-and-a-half months into his UEFA presidency, Aleksander Čeferin said that he is "having to work far longer hours than he imagined and has denounced those who doubted his ability -- even within his own circles," according to Andrew Warshaw of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. In a "remarkably candid" interview, Čeferin, "virtually unknown before he was elected in September," said that the "lack of trust in football’s old-school administration worked in his favour when he crushed" Dutch FA President Michael van Praag, who "does not escape criticism along with everyone else who thought the Slovenian had little or no chance of victory." Čeferin: "Before the election, it was to my advantage that I was not part of the establishment. A lot of those who have been there for a long time could not believe it. ... But times have changed. I know I was a good candidate -- but I wouldn't have had a chance 10 years ago." Čeferin said that the fact that he was "just the president of a small association and had no idea how things worked at FIFA and UEFA" helped his cause, with "so many corruption allegations swirling around." Responding to claims that he was "simply a puppet of the Russians," Čeferin did not "mince his words," saying his critics were "simply afraid" of change. He said, "It’s simple, I got support from the big associations like DFB (Germany), France and Italy and the small ones, but also from regions like Scandinavia and at a certain point this wave of support was too strong to stop." In terms of his achievements so far, Čeferin said, "I have brought in term limits and we have created an independent body to deal with financial, legal and disciplinary misconduct. We also have a new security unit. It’s strange, but we didn’t have a women’s football unit. Now we’re introducing one." Under his presidency, UEFA also has a "new and more transparent bid process." When former UEFA President Michel Platini was in charge, cities were "awarded club finals behind closed doors," but that is no longer the case (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 1/31).
