Veron voted president of former club Estudiantes

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Former Manchester United and Argentina playmaker Juan Sebastian Veron has been voted president of Argentine first division club Estudiantes de La Plata.

Veron, who also played for Boca Juniors, Sampdoria, Parma, Lazio, Chelsea and Inter Milan, won 70 percent of the votes against outgoing president Enrique Lombardi, who had Argentina's 1986 World-Cup winning coach Carlos Bilardo on his ticket as vice-president.

The 39-year-old Veron, who will be in charge for a three-year term, follows in the footsteps of other former leading players such as Daniel Passarella at River Plate and Carlos Babington at Huracan, in taking charge of their clubs.

Veron hung up his boots last season, having returned to Estudiantes from Europe in 2006, and led them to their fourth South American Libertadores Cup crown in 2009. They won it three times from 1968-70 with his father Juan Ramon in the team.

Passarella, who captained Argentina to their first World cup victory in 1978, ended a controversial four-year reign in charge of River Plate last December, having presided over their first ever relegation in 2011.

(Reporting by Luis Ampuero; Writing by Rex Gowar; editing by Toby Davis)