European football’s governing body UEFA says it is still possible to hold a presidential election before Euro 2016 if its suspended president Michel Platini fails to overturn his six-year ban from the sport.
Platini was first banned for ethics violations in October, leaving UEFA without a president, and the Frenchman has taken his case to the Court of Arbitration (CAS) which has promised to make a decision on his case by May 9.
Platini and former FIFA president Sepp Blatter were banished over a payment of two million Swiss francs ($2.08 million) made to the Frenchman by FIFA with Blatter’s approval in 2011 for work done a decade earlier. Both have denied wrongdoing.
UEFA, which held its annual Congress on Tuesday, said it would hold a meeting on May 18 which would either be a triumphant return for Platini, or otherwise to plot its next steps to find a replacement. “We consider the meeting either the possibility to come back or the next steps,” acting general secretary Theodore Theodoridis said.
“UEFA has learned to live under unusual circumstances and for the moment we haven’t faced major issues or major problems,” he added. UEFA’s legal director Alasdair Bell said that, following a change in the statutes last year, it was possible to stage the election before the European Championship starts in France on June 10, although that would not necessarily happen.
“Last year, we changed the rules so, if necessary, we could shorten the deadline from three months to two months or one month; that doesn’t imply we will. The change was made to give us flexibility, to keep our options open,” he said.
UEFA’s senior vice-president Angel Maria Villar, who chaired the Congress in Platini’s absence, said UEFA was still hoping for a reprieve for Platini.

Frenchwoman wins landmark UEFA vote
Meanwhile, UEFA elected Frenchwoman Florence Hardouin as its first female executive member in a landmark vote at a congress. The 49-year-old Hardouin, French Football Federation (FFF) director general, won by 33 votes to 21 against her rival candidate, the former Norwegian international Karen Espelund, 55, who has been a co-opted member of UEFA’s Executive Committee since 2012.  
“My role will be both as a voice of French football and of other federations,” Hardouin told AFP after the result was announced.
Both candidates had said the vote by UEFA’s 54 member associations at its annual decision-making event would be a key step in changing football’s administration in its most powerful regional confederation.
Hardouin told a press conference later that she did not aim to be a member of FIFA’s top council as well.  “I’m not a wonder woman, working for the FFF and UEFA, that will be enough,” she said.  Her focus would be on continuing the development of women’s football, she added.