UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin will 'not stand' for re-elections in 2027

Aleksander Ceferin was elected as the UEFA President back in 2016

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin declared that he would not run for president of the European Union in 2027. A further term that would have extended until 2031 was made feasible by changes agreed to the UEFA rules at the Congress on Thursday in Paris, but Ceferin has ruled that out.

Football Association was the only body to criticise the modifications to Uefa’s regulations that allowed Ceferin to run for reelection for an additional four years starting in 2027.

At the UEFA Congress in Paris, only the FA chief executive, Mark Bullingham, displayed a red card to oppose the revisions. However, the proposal was approved with the support of 49 out of the 55 organisations.

“I decided six months ago that I would not run any more,” he said at a press conference. “The reason is that after some time every organisation needs fresh blood, but mainly because I was away from my family for seven years now.

“I intentionally didn’t want to disclose my thoughts before, because firstly, I wanted to see the real face of some people and I saw it. I have a beautiful life in football, I have a beautiful life outside of football as well.”

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The FA, in conjunction with Iceland and Norway, attempted to divide up the package of regulation changes, as it fully endorses the majority of the ideas put out, such as raising the minimum number of women members on the Uefa executive committee from one to two.

Nevertheless, the choice was made to support the reforms as a whole, which made the FA vote against the term restriction amendment on principle as opposed to against Ceferin personally.

In his opening speech to Congress, Ceferin said: “My daughter actually told me: ‘Father, sometimes I think you are a character from The Lord of the Rings.’ But I’m not. I’m not interested in the ring.”

An FA spokesperson said: “We believe that it was always intended that a principle of three terms of four years should be a maximum period for any Uefa exco member to serve. We have recently implemented governance changes of our own and think it’s important that we are consistent in our approach.”

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