UEFA federations head for Paris and debate on term limits

By Andrew Warshaw

February 6 – Potential opposition to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin’s leadership appears to be dwindling ahead of the organisation’s annual congress in Paris on Thursday.

One of the most influential members of Ceferin’s inner circle, Director of Football Zvonimir Boban, stepped down last month protesting about a change in the statutes that would let Ceferin stay in office longer than the current rules permit, possibly until 2031.

It was subsequently mooted that Romanian football chief Răzvan Burleanu, a Fifa Council member, was leading efforts to weaken Ceferin’s power base. But the Romanians have now confirmed they will vote on Thursday for the proposed changes which would allow Ceferin to run again and extend his leadership by more than 12 years.

Although he commands solid, widespread support with UEFA’s membership, Čeferin has made a section of his support uncomfortable in recent months, not least with his backing for Russia’s youth teams to be brought back into international competition.

That plan was swiftly axed following a backlash amongst around a dozen of UEFA’s member countries.

But the overall picture appears to be that there is little or no appetite to prevent Ceferin, who has been UEFA president since 2016 and was re-elected unopposed 10 months ago, from standing again in 2027 for a final four-year term, with the statute addition likely to be given a strong thumbs up in Paris.

The 12-year term limit at UEFA was personally brought in by Ceferin as an anti-corruption move in the fallout from the FifaGate scandal.

The new amendment would mean any appointment before 2017 would not be counted as part of the allowable three terms because he took charge during Michel Platini’s four-year term.

Explaining the narrative around the measure, Ceferin, a lawyer by profession, said: “There is a legal question and a factual question. The legal question: in 2017 we had a congress and I proposed term limits,…

Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/02/06/uefa-federations-head-paris-debate-term-limits/

Author : Paul Nicholson

Publish date : 2024-02-06 12:52:46

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