On Thursday, UEFA decided on a controversial amendment to the statutes in favor of Aleksander Ceferin – but he does not want to make use of it. The president will not stand for re-election in 2027
Ceferin said on Thursday after the Congress in Paris. “I already 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,” said Ceferin, explaining his decision. His family had known first, he could look in the mirror with peace of mind, said Ceferin.
In concrete terms, the problem areas of the past few years have apparently also drained Ceferin massively: “I’m tired of Covid, tired of two wars, tired of nonsense projects like the so-called Super League. “
The Slovenian explained in his own way why he kept the meeting in the French capital in the dark despite his long-held intentions: “I didn’t want to influence the congress in advance. It amused me to watch this hysteria.”
The announcement of his non-candidacy came as a surprise to everyone in Paris and in soccer, as a few minutes before Ceferin’s statement, the delegates had cleared the way for Ceferin to serve another term of office until 2031. Ceferin, who was elected in 2016, would then have been at the helm of the powerful association for 15 years.
The DFB also voted in favor of the controversial change to the statutes
In recent months, there had been some heated discussions about the changes to the statutes. Former professional Zvonimir Boban, who has been a close advisor to Ceferin for years, resigned from his high-ranking position at UEFA in protest.
The DFB supported the amendment to the statutes – a project of the 56-year-old UEFA President. At the Congress, only three out of 55 national associations voted against a vote on various amendments to the statutes en bloc, with one abstention. As a result, there was no in-depth debate on the individual statutes. The amendments themselves were adopted by a large majority.
