Uefa boss Aleksander Ceferin will not stand for re-election in 2027

PARIS – European football leaders on Feb 8 fell squarely in line behind their powerful president, Aleksander Ceferin, by approving a change to rules that would have allowed him to retain his post through 2031, beyond the organisation’s strict 12-year term limit.

The vote, though, was quickly rendered meaningless: About an hour after winning the right to pursue a new four-year term as president of European football’s governing body, Uefa, Ceferin said that he would not seek one.

“I have decided, let's say around six months ago, that I am not planning to run in 2027 any more,” Ceferin said, reading from prepared notes in comments that he used to simultaneously explain his thinking and settle scores with the news media and other football officials.

Ceferin, 56, said he had made the decision not to seek another term six months ago, after growing weary of issues such as leading the effort to suppress the “nonsense projects of so-called super leagues” and managing European football through the pandemic and wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.

Added the Slovenian: “I’m also tired of self-proclaimed moral authorities who are moral just until it comes to their personal interests.”

He said he had not revealed his plans earlier because he wanted to first assess the loyalty of Uefa’s members. In recent months, several top officials in the governing body’s leadership had objected to his growing power and to any weakening of term limits.

Ceferin has served as Uefa’s president since winning the election in 2016 after a corruption scandal that ousted his predecessor. Soon after taking office, he ushered in the term limits and other overhauls to prevent similar scandals.

The suggestions of a conflict first flared up at a meeting of Uefa’s executive board in December, when Ceferin’s motivations for the rule change were first questioned.

Even as that meeting grew feisty, though, he did not take the opportunity to make his intentions clear.

Nor did he do so in January, when Zvonimir Boban, a former star player from Croatia, resigned – in part, Boban said, to protest the president’s manoeuvring.

Ceferin took a parting shot at Boban, formerly a close ally, criticising his “narcissistic whining” and “pathetic cry about morality”.

That had raised the prospect that the vote on Feb 8 would offer a whiff of rebellion. Instead, it brought near-total capitulation: When it was time for the vote, only England’s Football Association held up a red card of disapproval.

“We were supportive of the statute changes proposed by Uefa, with the exception of one,” England’s federation said in a statement after the vote – a reference to the language on term limits.

“We have recently implemented governance changes of our own and think it’s important that we are consistent in our approach.”

Asked why he had not made his plans clear before the vote, Ceferin said: “First, I wanted to see the real face of some people, and I saw it. I saw good and bad at once.

“And of course I did not want to influence the congress.

“I wanted them to decide not knowing what I’m telling you here today.”

NYTIMES, REUTERS, AFP