UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin will not stand for re-election in 2027. The President of the European Football Union said this on Thursday after the congress in Paris.
The announcement came as a surprise because just a few minutes earlier the delegates had cleared the way for Ceferin to serve until 2031.
Through a change in the statutes, which the member associations approved with the necessary majority, Ceferin could have remained UEFA boss until 2031, longer than previously thought. The German Football Association (DFB) also supported the 56-year-old’s plan. After public criticism had almost died down beforehand, only the English association opposed the adjustment.
“I decided six months ago not to run again in 2027. UEFA needs new blood and I don’t want to be separated from my family for so long,” Ceferin explained his move: “I didn’t want to influence the congress in advance. It did I am amused watching this hysteria.”
Ceferin took the opportunity to strongly criticize his critics around the resigned UEFA official Zvonimir Boban. “I heard that UEFA was divided and fragmented,” said Ceferin: “But we are united like never before.”