"This is a great victory for me but I'm not going to do a lap of honor because now the work starts," he said.

"We must always see to it that the strong help the weaker ones," he told the delegates in his address before the vote. "Let's defend the national associations against the interests which are threatening them. It is a game before a product, a sport before a market, a show before a business."

"We have a few months still to see which way we will go, but I would like a better equilibrium," Platini said at a news conference after the vote. "It is very close to my heart."