NYON: UEFA President Michel Platini is set to serve a third term after no rival candidate emerged before last week’s deadline.

The former France captain was first elected to run European football in 2007 and stood unopposed for a second term in 2011.

Platini will be confirmed for a third term as president through 2019 at the UEFA Congress in Vienna in March after UEFA announced “the cut-off deadline of 24 December 2014 has passed for submissions of candidacy” with no rival candidates.

In his second term, Platini enforced Financial Fair Play rules to curb club losses, introduced a minimum 10-game ban for racist abuse by players, and changed the 2020 European Championship format to feature 13 host countries.

Platini has ruled out challenging Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency in May.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2014