February 16 – UEFA has re-confirmed that Aleksander Čeferin will stand for re-election to the UEFA presidency unopposed with the announcement of candidates for election at its 47th Ordinary Congress in Lisbon on April 5.
While Čeferin is standing unopposed, the congress will vote on the 11 candidates chasing seven seats on UEFA’s executive committee. All seats are for four-year terms.
Four of those candidates are standing for re-election: Jesper Moller Christiansen (Denmark), Armand Duka (Albania), Andrii Pavelko (Ukraine) and Luis Rubiales (Spain).
Amongst the challengers for a position on the executive committee are France’s Phillippe Diallo, the current interim president of the French Football Federation, and Norway’s Lise Klaveness who famously – and bravely – challenged FIFA and Qatar over the human rights issues at the Qatar 2022.
Wales’s Laura McCallister is guaranteed a seat on the UEFA executive committee this time round, standing unopposed for the ‘one female position’. Germany’s Hans-Joachim Watzke is also standing unopposed for a two-year term on the executive committee.
McCallister guarantees Britain’s home nations representation on the executive committee. Scotland’s Rod Petrie is standing in the election and could provide a second British face to the exco. UEFA is scheduled to announce the hosts of Euro 2028 in September.
UEFA said that all candidates had successfully passed an eligibility check carried out by an electoral committee composed of members of the UEFA Governance and Compliance Committee.
Čeferin will stand for a third term as UEFA president. He was elected UEFA’s seventh president in 2016 to replace Michel Platini, who was banned the year before for ethics violations. Ceferin was then re-elected unopposed for a four-year term in 2019.
The 54-year-old Slovenian lawyer faced his biggest challenge in April 2021 when 12 of Europe’s top clubs attempted to form a European Super League. He also led UEFA’s charge in opposing FIFA’s plans to hold a World Cup every two years instead of every four.
UEFA election candidates:
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