Darmanin Demajo in Exco vote

Malta FA president Norman Darmanin Demajo hopes to succeed Joe Mifsud as a member of the UEFA Executive Committee (Exco) when the elections are held at the XXXV Ordinary UEFA Congress in Paris today.

Darmanin Demajo is one of 13 candidates for the Exco election. While he is looking to secure a seat in UEFA’s top organ for the first time, today’s congress brings the curtains down on Dr Mifsud’s 17-year tenure as Exco member.

Of the seven Exco members whose term of office expires today, only Dr Mifsud is not seeking re-election.

The former Malta FA supremo had set his sights on another four-year term but his defeat to Darmanin Demajo at the last MFA presidential vote effectively put paid to Dr Mifsud’s hopes of holding on to his UEFA seat.

After the Exco candidacy issue was raised during a Malta FA council meeting in December, several clubs and member associations wrote to encourage Darmanin Demajo to stand for the UEFA Exco election.

The MFA Executive Comm-ittee’s unanimous vote to put forward Darmanin Demajo’s name for the UEFA Exco election was rubberstamped by the council members in January.

The six UEFA Exco members who are standing for re-election today are Senes Erzik (Turkey), Gilberto Madail (Portugal), Mircea Sandu (Romania), Grigoriy Surkis (Ukraine), Liutauras Varanavicius (Lithuania) and Angel Maria Villar Llona (Spain).

Completing the list of candidates are: Francois de Keersmacker (Belgium), Norman Darmanin Demajo (Malta), Sergey Fursenko (Russia), Peter Gillieron (Switzerland), Ivan Hasek (Czech Republic), Grzegorz Lato (Poland) and Borislav Mihaylov (Bulgaria).

The four-strong Malta FA delegation, made up of Darmanin Demajo, Bjorn Vassallo, the Malta FA CEO, and vice-presidents Carmelo Bartolo and Ludovigo Micallef, landed in Paris yesterday morning ahead of today’s congress at Le Grand Palais.

With 13 contenders vying for seven seats, it’s clear that Darmanin Demajo faces an uphill struggle but at the last MFA council meeting, he promised to do his very best to give a good account of himself in today’s election.

“All MFA officials, the association’s CEO, members of the Executive Committee, Council Members and the wider circle of the Maltese football fraternity wish Norman Darmanin Demajo every success in his bid to be elected on the UEFA Exco and thus be of service to European football and the Maltese game in particular,” the Malta FA said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Dr Mifsud, who has also occupied the role of UEFA’s fifth vice-president since 2009, travelled to Paris a few days before the Malta FA delegation as the UEFA Executive Committee members convened on Sunday for a two-day meeting.

UEFA president Michel Platini yesterday expressed the sincere thanks of the entire European football family to Dr Mifsud, for his 17-year involvement in the development and running of the European game as a member and a vice-president of the Executive Committee and other UEFA Committees.

Platini is set to be re-elected for another four-year term after being confirmed as the only candidate for the post.

The former French captain, 55, was elected to UEFA’s top post in January 2007 after beating long-time incumbent Lennart Johan-sson in a tight vote.

The Congress will also be asked to approve the reports of the UEFA president/Executive Committee and the UEFA administration for the 2009/10 period, as well as UEFA’s financial accounts for 2009/10, the strategic financial outlook until 2015/16 and the budget for the 2011/12 financial year.