David Gill "has been elected by UEFA" as Britain's FIFA VP, defeating FA of Wales President Trefor Lloyd Hughes in an election in Vienna, according to SKY SPORTS. Gill, who is also vice-chairman of the FA, "will succeed Northern Ireland's Jim Boyce in May and will have a four-year term on FIFA's executive committee." Gill beat Lloyd Hughes "43 votes to 10." Earlier, Lloyd Hughes and Scottish FA President Campbell Ogilvie "failed in their attempt" to be elected to UEFA's exec committee (SKY SPORTS, 3/24). The PA's Martyn Ziegler wrote claims that England has reneged on a written agreement that Wales should have the next British FIFA VP "has cast a shadow" over the election. Wales believes that England has gone back on a '11 agreement by the four home nations, signed by previous FA Chair David Bernstein. Lloyd Hughes "has made no secret of his unhappiness." He said, "The agreement has nothing to do with UEFA or FIFA, it is between the four associations and the four associations have signed up to that" (PA, 3/23). The BBC reported Lloyd Hughes accused his English counterparts "of not keeping to an agreement" on who should have the next British FIFA vice-presidency. Gill said that the agreement became void after FIFA reforms, which means the British FIFA vice-presidency is now elected by all UEFA members "instead of just the four home nations." Gill: "We need to understand and explain that the rotation system ended. It is more democratic. If those changes in UEFA's statutes had not taken place then, yes, Trefor would be on there. But it has happened and we need to move forward." The row "also seems to have further damaged the chance of combined men's and women's football teams representing Great Britain at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio." FIFA indicated that "it will not give permission for a GB Team to compete unless all the home nations agree" (BBC, 3/24). The PA reported UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino backed the FA's position, saying at a news conference in Vienna that "the FIFA reforms meant the agreement no longer stood." Infantino said, "We managed to convince FIFA to keep the British vice-presidency as we feel this is part of the history of football but the condition was that the election process should change so instead of it being the four British associations who decide it should be the UEFA Congress" (PA, 3/24).
