Aleksander Ceferin to run for a fourth term as UEFA president

October 8 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told delegates at a meeting of UEFA’s 55 member associations in Berlin (Thursday) that he will stand for a fourth term.

His decision to run again comes at a crucial time for international football following the crisis in FIFA’s leadership following president Gianni Infantino’s failed attempt to sell off all FIFA’s commercial rights to a private equity backed new company – FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE). It proved to be the final straw in a growing discontent over Infantino’s manipulation of the world’s game to his own agenda.

UEFA and Ceferin have led the subsequent battle to bring change at FIFA and the removal of Infantino alongside Concacaf and the AFC. Infantino has refused to face his critics but has instead opened his own assault on Concacaf president Victor Montagliani and AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, dispatching his member associations team at FIFA to sow division within Concacaf and AFC member nations, usually with the promise of money but for the bigger nations that can’t be bought by FIFA’s millions, promises of future hosting of FIFA competitions and other favours.

Infantino has taken to a private jet provided by Qatar to lobby for his future and shamelessly toured the confederations, picking off the lowest hanging and most needy and greedy countries within FIFA’s membership.

He has had no success in Europe where nations – bar Azerbaijan whose former general secretary Elkhan Mammadov is head of FIFA’s member services team – have universally and in fury withdrawn their support for Infantino and mandated Ceferin to lead their opposition.

Ceferin has said he has no interest in running for the FIFA presidency next March. UEFA’s presidential re-election will take place at the 51st UEFA Ordinary Congress in Astana, Kazakhstan, on 22 April 2027. 

Having initially said that he wouldn’t stand for re-election after a statute change allowed him run for another term, Ceferin said he reconsidered his position after being approached by UEFA’s national associations.

Having led the fight against the failed European Super League, the Slovenian lawyer, is Europe’s clear and obvious leader in the continent’s demand for change at FIFA. A change in UEFA leadership now would have impact on Europe’s call for a reformed international game.

“I want to thank the national associations for their trust.  We have faced extraordinary challenges over the past years, and we have faced them as one team.  There is still important work ahead, and I have therefore accepted their request,” said Ceferin.

“My ambition remains the same: to keep European football united, make our game stronger and leave UEFA ready for the next generation.”

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