Spanish Federation Chief Villar Declares UEFA Presidency Ambition

Spanish Football Association (RFEF) president Ángel María Villar Llona will contest for the top job at European football’s governing body Uefa, a position he currently holds on an interim basis.

The RFEF confirmed Villar’s candidacy for the Uefa presidency in a brief statement ahead of today’s (Wednesday’s) deadline for applications. Villar has been Uefa’s acting president since October, when Michel Platini was suspended from all football-related activities.

Villar - who is UEFA’s longest-serving vice president - becomes the third official to declare his candidacy for the presidency. Dutch Football Association (KNVB) chief Michael van Praag in May become the first candidate to declare their interest in the role left vacant by Platini, who is serving a four-year ban from football-related activity. Aleksander Ceferin, head of the Football Association of Slovenia (NZS), was the second individual to formally announce his candidacy last month.

Uefa’s presidential election will take place on September 14 during an extraordinary congress in the Greek capital of Athens.