Aleksander Ceferin hammers critics as he rules out extra term as Uefa president
The Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has announced he does not intend to run for an extra term, ruling out any attempt to extend his reign until 2031 when his mandate runs out in four years’ time.
In a dramatic and at times bizarre statement to the media after the governing body’s annual congress in Paris, Ceferin took aim at his adversaries and claimed he had decided six months ago to step down in 2027. The twist came within minutes of Uefa’s member associations voting through a controversial change to its statutes that would have allowed him to stand for an unprecedented fourth term, effectively striking off his first two years after he replaced Michel Platini midway through a four-year cycle in 2016.
The alterations had caused widespread unease but Ceferin wrongfooted the vast majority of those present by subsequently making his planned departure public. His revelation surprised a number of senior figures within Uefa and some close colleagues, including people on his executive committee, did not learn of the decision until Wednesday.
“I have met many great people in football and I will meet more,” Ceferin said. “Be sure that [the] majority of people in football are not like some clowns. So I have decided, let’s say around six months ago, that I’m not planning to run in 2027 any more.
“The reason is that after some time every organisation [needs] fresh blood but mainly because I was away from my family for seven years now, and I will be away from them for three more until 2027. My family knew it first.”
The wording “planning to run” leaves room for a change of heart in theory, but further clarification was not made available in the aftermath. Ceferin suggested he had withheld the announcement in order to see how Uefa’s stakeholders reacted to the planned statute changes, which had bred concern that he was intent on clinging on to power beyond a standard 12-year term. He also appeared to mock the media’s response.
“First, I wanted to see the real face of some people and I saw it, I saw good and bad parts,” he said. “And of course I didn’t want to influence the congress.
“I wanted them to decide not knowing what I’m telling you today because that’s an honest decision. I have to say that it was actually amusing to watch all this hysteria, and at the same time getting all the messages of support from my federations.”
The Slovenian’s greatest ire was reserved for Zvonimir Boban, his former chief of football, who resigned three weeks ago in protest at the statute proposals. Ceferin did not name Boban, who had railed against what he saw as “fatal” amendments, but left no room for misinterpretation when questioning his one-time ally’s integrity.
“Just one sentence about his pathetic cry about morality: he was one of the rare people who knew I was not planning to run in 2027,” he said. “The moment he got the information that I would disclose it after the conference, he went out with his narcissistic letter. He could not wait because after my disclosure, his whining would not make sense.” Sources close to Boban reject the suggestion that he knew in advance of Ceferin’s decision not to run.
Ceferin, who told the Guardian in an interview last month that he had been made to look like “Kim Jong-un” and did not outline plans to leave beyond an assertion he was “not sure” about running again, listed a number of factors that had dampened his enthusiasm for the role. “I’m tired of Covid, I’m tired of two wars [and] the nonsense projects of the so-called Super League,” he said. “I’m also tired of self-proclaimed moral authorities who are moral just until it comes to their personal interests.”
In what quickly became a footnote to the day’s proceedings, the Football Association stood alone among Uefa’s 55 members in opposing the statute changes. Its stance, confirmed by a vote from the chief executive, Mark Bullingham, had been signposted as a point of principle about sound governance rather than a show of dissent against Ceferin. A coalition of 10 wouldbe rebels had dissolved in the week leading up to the congress.
Ceferin suggested those voicing disquiet about term limit changes should feel embarrassed when faced by such a show of outwards unity. But some federations are known to have bitten their tongues, concluding that this was not a battle worth fighting at a time when ripples from December’s Super League judgment continue to reverberate around Europe.
Earlier in the congress, the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, addressed delegates and proposed that both bodies
work towards a new resolution against racism before May, when his organisation holds its congress in Bangkok. Infantino mooted forfeits for teams responsible for match abandonments caused by racist incidents and criminal charges against offenders.