UEFA elects first female executive in France's Florence Hardouin

BUDAPEST - European football's governing body UEFA elected Frenchwoman Florence Hardouin as its first female executive member in a landmark vote at a congress in Budapest on Tuesday.

Hardouin, French Football Federation (FFF) director general, won by 33 votes to 21 against rival candidate, the former Norwegian international Karen Espelund, who is already a co-opted member of UEFA's Executive Committee.

"My role will be both as the 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.

"I am very pleased for the FFF," Noel Le Graet, the federation's president, told AFP.

"Florence Hardouin is respected, it's a big success for her, she is someone who will work in the interests of both football and the FFF," he added.