Two candidates, two reformers

This Wednesday promises to be an important, perhaps even historic day for European football's governing body, as delegates from the 55 nations that make up UEFA vote in Athens to elect a new president. The winner will succeed Michel Platini, who stepped down back in May after failing in a legal bid to get his FIFA ban over corruption allegations lifted. The delegates will have to choose between just two candidates, Michael van Praag, the president of the Royal Dutch Football Association, and Aleksander Ceferin, president of the Football Association of Slovenia.

Until recently, van Praag, who at 68 is just two years shy of the age limit for becoming president of UEFA, was seen as the favorite. The former president of Ajax and the Dutch league, who ran against Sepp Blatter in the 2015 FIFA presidential vote, has stressed the need to reform UEFA.

"Many things have gone wrong in recent years. It is important that people will have confidence in UEFA and in how decisions are made," he said. "That's why I think it is important that make changes quickly."

But how credible are his statements? After all, Van Praag has been a member of UEFA's Executive Committee for the past seven years and during that time there haven't been any initiatives to reform the organization.

Democratic deficit

The status quo at UEFA seems to be the epitome of a democratic deficit: There is no independent ethics committee and there is no compliance committee. There is only one woman on the Executive Committee. The salaries of the Executive Committee members and the UEFA president are still secret and these are precisely the 16 people who still decide which countries are awarded the right to host European championships - by secret ballot.

Van Praag says if elected president, he will change all of this. He recently told German public broadcasters ARD and WDR that he wants to place the decision as to which country should be awarded the right to host a European championship in the hands of the UEFA Congress instead of just the Executive Committee. FIFA made a similar change years ago.

Van Praag has presented a more detailed election platform and has positioned himself more clearly in favor of reform than Ceferin. The Slovene wants reforms too, but the transparency of salaries and the awarding of European championship hosting rights are not big issues for him.

"I think a lot has to change. There needs to be a fresh wind and I'm the right guy," for that, the 48-year-old Ceferin said.

Influential lawyer

But who is this Aleksander Ceferin, the little-known favorite to take European football's top job? In Slovenia they will tell you that Ceferin is an intelligent and calculating man who enjoys wielding power. Born into a wealthy and influential family, he now runs one of the most influential law firms in Slovenia - which he took over from his father.

This raises the question: Can someone who is prepared to defend oligarchs, allegedly corrupt politicians and drug dealers restore the credibility of European football.

"That's my job, and I'm glad that I do it well," he told ARD and WDR in defense of his work as a lawyer. "And it is a great achievement of democracy."

Alleged ethics breach

But in Slovenia you will also hear other things about him, complicated allegations that are hardly out in the open.

Anybody who has faced him in a courtroom will tell you that Ceferin is a good, but extremely hardnosed attorney. Ceferin is also accused of having breached the code of ethics of the Slovenian bar association. Roman Zavrsek, president of the bar association of Slovenia, confirmed this.

"Yes, there was a complaint, because he commented publicly on an ongoing case,"Zavrsek said. "The Ethics Committee deemed this inappropriate."

Ceferin has said he had only said publicly something that the court later confirmed.

Then there is the example of NK Koper, a football club which was granted a license to play in Slovenia's top flight - despite being million in debt. One of Ceferin's clients happens to be behind the club .

Confronted with these facts, the UEFA presidential candidate told ARD and WDR that: "We did not know that NK Koper had this debt, and we could not have known that..."

This is surprising, because in recent years there have been there have been numerous reports in the Slovenian media about the clubs debt problems.

Opaque battle for power

The basic question remains: How has someone who was largely unknown beyond Slovenia just a few weeks ago managed to (evidently) win the support of more than half of UEFA's member associations? These include Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and several countries in eastern Europe.

Ceferin is seen as well organized, as a networker who is good at getting things done. His relative youth will be seen by many as an advantage in efforts to do away with old structures.

It is also clear that the Russians have lobbied hard for him, and reportedly so does FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Ceferin is rumored to have promised a European championship to the Nordic countries. This, he said, is a lie, adding that nobody from outside was organizing or advising his campaign. He also stressed that he wasn't working on behalf of any foreign power.

The campaign for the UEFA presidency amounts to an opaque battle for power. Both candidates say they are committed to reform, but only time will tell whether Wednesday's vote will have brought true change to football's European governing body.