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In the balance: Uefa fears a split as European football prepares to elect its new president

European body to elect a new president whose main task will be to stop what officials say is an inexorable slide towards a breakaway soccer Super League

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The future of the Uefa Champions League is in question and the fallout from the election of a new Uefa chief could be pivotal for the competitions future. Photo: AP

Uefa elects a new president on Wednesday whose main task will be to stop what European officials say is an inexorable slide towards a breakaway soccer Super League open only to wealthy clubs such as Real Madrid and Manchester City.

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Aleksander Ceferin, a lawyer from Slovenia, and Dutchman Michael van Praag, an experienced football administrator, are the only candidates for a job which will essentially involve keeping European football intact in its current form.

The election, which will be held in Athens, has been called after former president Michel Platini was banned last October as Fifa’s ethics committee investigated allegations of unethical conduct.

Platini, banned for four years, finally resigned in May after exhausting the appeal process and the power vacuum allowed the big clubs to negotiate changes to the flagship Champions League in their favour.

Those were finalised last month when Uefa opened up more places to teams from Europe’s biggest four leagues – effectively Spain, England, Germany and Italy – in the competition’s lucrative group stage and cut those allocated to the rest.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the European Club Association (ECA), addresses the plenary general assembly of the ECA in Geneva last week. Photo: AP
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the European Club Association (ECA), addresses the plenary general assembly of the ECA in Geneva last week. Photo: AP
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Faced with the possibility of the big clubs forming their own Super League, Uefa said it had managed to “keep it in the family” but the move infuriated many clubs and leagues from outside the main countries.

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