Ceferin to stand for fourth term as UEFA president
Aleksander Ceferin will stand for a fourth term as UEFA president.
He told leaders of all 55 European national associations at a meeting in Berlin, BBC Sport reported. UEFA is European football's governing body. It runs the Champions League, the European Championship and the club and national-team competitions that fill much of the calendar.
The decision is a change of course. Ceferin said in February 2024 that he would not seek re-election. He was first elected in 2016, which means he has led European football for almost a decade through major finals, a pandemic-hit schedule and big arguments over the future of club competitions.
The rules had to be rewritten to allow him to stay on. UEFA changed its statutes to permit a fourth term for Ceferin. Those term-limit changes were passed at its 2024 Congress, according to ESPN. Without that change, he would not have been able to stand again.
Ceferin also closed off another option. He has ruled out standing against Gianni Infantino in the FIFA presidential election. FIFA is world football's governing body, responsible for the World Cup and the global rules of the game. It will hold its presidential election in March.
The next formal step comes in Kazakhstan. The vote for the next UEFA president is due to take place at the UEFA Congress in Astana, Yahoo Sports reported. Congress is UEFA's big decision-making gathering, where each national association has a vote.
For fans, this means continuity at the top of the European game. The UEFA president does not pick teams or score goals. But the office helps shape kick-off calendars, prize money, financial rules and funding that flows down to grassroots football.
What makes this stand out is the reversal. Two years ago Ceferin said he was done. Now he is asking Europe's associations to back him again, with the rulebook already altered to make that possible.
