UEFA announces candidates for presidential election

Geneva, Sep 3: The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has announced its final approved list of three candidates running for the presidential post in Europes governing body of football.

"UEFA has been informed by the FIFA Review Committee that all of the candidates running for election at the UEFA Congress on September 14, 2016 in Athens have successfully passed the eligibility checks conducted by FIFA," UEFA announced in its statement on Friday.

"Aleksander Ceferin, Michael van Praag and Angel Maria Villar — who will be running for the position of UEFA President and would thus automatically become FIFA vice-president — have all complied with the eligibility requirements," the statement added.

While van Praag is the president of the Royal Dutch Football Association, Villar serves as the Spanish football body president. Villar is also the acting UEFA president.

UEFA will be electing its new president on September 14 in Athens and all candidates wishing to run for the presidency had to submit their applications by July 20, reports Tass.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who is also the president of the Russian Football Union (RFU), announced in June that the RFU would vote for the candidacy of Ceferin, the head of the Football Association of Slovenia.

Frenchman Michel Platini, who is considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all time, had been at the helm of UEFA since 2007 until he was suspended earlier this year.

Last October, Platini and then-President of FIFA Sepp Blatter were both suspended for 90 days from their posts as part of the investigation into corruption allegations against them.