Van Praag loses UEFA presidency election

Michael van Praag will not succeed ousted Frenchman Michel Platini as the president of UEFA. On Wednesday the 68-year-old Amsterdam man lost the presidency election in Athens to Slovenia's Aleksander Ceferin, the Telegraaf reports.

According to the newspaper, Van Praag's loss came as no surprise. Ceferin spent the past few weeks gaining the support of many European unions, including large countries such as Russia, France and Germany. The 48-year-old lawyer also had the support of many associations from Scandinavia.

Despite dropping to the underdog position in a short period of time, Van Praag remained positive until the last moment. "I too have many commitments. I may be wrong, but I think it will be a close call."

That optimism didn't pay off in the end. Van Praag got only 13 votes, against Ceferin's 42.