April 2 – Top of the agenda at the UEFA Congress in Belgrade, Serbia, will be the elections for UEFA’s executive committee. There will also be a vote on European representatives on the FIFA Council, with five members, including at least one female, to elected.
There are 11 candidates for seven positions on UEFA’s highest decision-making body, including Switzerland’s Dominique Blanc, Finland’s Ari Lahti and Portugal’s new FA chairman Pedro Proença, who served on the European Leagues body. Estonian FA president Aivar Pohlak also passed the governance checks.
Norway’s Lise Klaveness will stand unopposed for the second female quota seat. At the 2023 Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, she failed to get elected for a regular seat on the executive committee.
Klaveness is a staunch and outspoken campaigner for human rights and player welfare, and campaigned intensely two years ago, but ultimately admitted that she had little chance of getting elected. Recently, the NFF president has come under scrutiny at home over a decision to maintain VAR in Norwegian elite football.
Gabriele Gravina of Italy and Hans-Joachim Watzke, Germany’s most powerful football official, will stand for re-election. Ukraine football legend Andriy Shevchenko is among five candidates competing for two seats that have two-year terms. He may be considered a frontrunner in a field that also includes Vadims Ļašenko of Latvia, Rafael Louzán of Spain, Bjorn Vassallo of Malta and Moshe Zuares of Israel for one final seat.
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) has sent a protest note to UEFA over Zuares’s candidacy. He serves as the president of the Israel Football Association (IFA). UEFA and FIFA have not banned Israel following the war on Gaza in response to the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas.
Russia’s Alexander Dyukov will not stand for re-election. His country remains banned from international football because of the war in Ukraine, but with the shifting geopolitical landscape, Russia’s return to the international game is being debated in the game’s corridors of power.
However, at a recent roundtable, DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said: “The fact is that the initial situation that led to the suspension of Russian teams has unfortunately not changed. Russia continues its war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law. Therefore, debates about a general lifting of sanctions are currently unnecessary. The situation must first change substantially.”
Four European FIFA Council members, all presidents of their national federations, will retain their seats: Răzvan Burleanu of Romania, Georgios Koumas of Cyprus, Bernd Neuendorf of Germany and Dejan Savićević of Montenegro. Belgium’s Pascale Van Damme will run unopposed for the female seat and replace Italy’s Evelina Christillin, who has ties to the Agnelli family.
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