UEFA elected six new members to its executive committee at
its 41st congress in Helsinki on Wednesday.
Sweden’s Karl-Erik Nilsson, John Delaney of Ireland, Italian
Michele Uva, Poland’s Zbigniew Boniek, Reinhard Grindel of Germany and Turkey’s
Servet Yardimci were the newly elected members.
Michael van Praag of the Netherlands, who stood
unsuccessfully as a candidate for the UEFA presidency last year, and England’s
David Gill were re-elected.
Twelve people stood for election to the committee, which had
eight of its 16 posts in play.
Before the vote, UEFA decided unanimously to limit the
president and executive committee members to three four-year terms.
Three other Europeans were elected to serve on FIFA’s
council for four-year terms: Sandor Csyani of Hungary, Cypriot Costakis
Koutsokoumnis and former AC Milan star forward Dejan Savicevic of Montenegro.
A fourth member will be elected at an extraordinary congress
in September as Russian Vice-President Vitaly Mutko was barred from standing
after failing a FIFA eligibility check that prevents those with political
affiliations from sitting on the council.
Grindel was also elected to a two-year seat on the FIFA
council to take the place of compatriot Wolfgang Niersbach, who is serving a
one-year ban from football due to his implication in a corruption scandal
linked to the attribution of the 2006 World Cup to Germany.
This story was first published on PUNCH
