The new Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has dismissed allegations that he used money loaned to the Slovenian FA for football development to invest in shares as a “joke”.
The ascent of Ceferin, a relative unknown outside his native Slovenia, to one of the biggest jobs in football has come under serious scrutiny in recent weeks.
The Norwegian football magazine and website Josimar has raised questions over his eligibility to stand and this week alleged that a €4m loan from Uefa to the Slovenian FA in 2015 many have been used to invest in an online lottery company called Sportna Loterija.
The website said that in addition to borrowing €4m from Uefa under its former secretary general Gianni Infantino, who is now Fifa president, for the purpose of football development the Slovenian FA also borrowed €3m from a Russian bank.
It alleged some of the money was invested in a new football centre and the rest spent on shares. Ceferin, in London on his first official engagement since winning the presidency last week, dismissed the claims.
“That’s another joke from the same media. It’s all completely clear and Uefa has all the documents and I was even not involved in this,” he said, following the launch of the Euro 2020 logo in London on his first official engagement.
“But I had expected some sort of stories from the same people who didn’t want me to come to where I am.”
Ceferin, a lawyer who had been head of the Slovenian FA since 2011, also said he had no knowledge of a mooted proposal to hand a pay off to the disgraced former Uefa president Michel Platini.
Platini was said to be negotiating the terms of his exit from Uefa after being banned for four years over a “disloyal payment” received from former Fifa president Sepp Blatter.
“I don’t know [about this] I will find out probably next week I think,” said Ceferin.
