By Andrew Warshaw
September 7 – And then there were two. Angel Maria Villar, whose UEFA presidential candidacy always seemed destined to fail, has pulled out of the election next week to save face, leaving Michael van Praag and Alexander Ceferin to battle it out to fill the vacancy left by Michel Platini.
The Spanish FIFA and UEFA veteran, regarded very much as one of the old-school fraternity and who not so long ago fell foul of FIFA’s ethics regulations, has been conspicuous by his silence in the media since entering the race and it is now clear, despite a statement to the contrary, that he had insufficient support among UEFA’s 55 federations.
“Although I have received plenty of support to continue with my campaign, I have, after a deep reflection, decided to withdraw my candidacy,” Villar said.
Villar has been Spanish FA (RFEF) president since 1988 and has sat on the executive committee of FIFA since 1998 and on its UEFA equivalent since 1992.
Since Platini was forced out of office over the infamous CHF 2 million gentleman’s agreement made with Sepp Blatter, it has been Villar, as UEFA’s first vice-president, who has run UEFA on an interim basis at events such as Euro 2016.
But the canny lawyer was always simply keeping the presidential seat warm for someone else long term and in recent weeks has had to endure the additional pressure of an ignominious domestic spat over his role as head of his national federation where he divides opinion. Having relinquished the UEFA presidential candidacy he will now concentrate on re-election at home in December.
Despite arguably being the most experienced of the three candidates, Villar can never escape the fact that he was fined CHF 25,000 last year by FIFA’s Ethics Committee for failing to co-operate with an investigation into the contest to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
It may have been a token punishment but it is on his record just the same, the clearest indication of his resistance to reform.
Whilst it is hard to say which of the other two contenders Villar’s supporters – how ever many of them there were – will now back, it is understood the Spanish FA itself will switch its allegiance to Van Praag in Athens next week.
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