The UEFA Congress validated Thursday in Paris an amendment allowing President Aleksander Ceferin, elected for the first time in 2016 at the head of the European Football Confederation, to stand for re-election in 2027 for a 4th term.
The provision was approved by two-thirds of the votes, as stipulated by the statutes of the body.
The text does not remove the three-term limit, one of the key measures taken in April 2017 by Ceferin after the cascade of scandals which had led to similar restrictions at the International Federation (FIFA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
But he specifies that this rule, valid for all members of the executive committee, does not take into account mandates “started before July 1, 2017”. This will therefore allow Ceferin, reappointed to his post in 2023 for a new four-year term – which should have been the last – to attempt to succeed himself in 2027 and thus remain in post until 2031 .
The age limit of 70 for being elected or re-elected to the UEFA Executive Committee has also been repealed.
No dissenting voice was heard to demonstrate opposition to this reform. However, the project caused a crisis at UEFA with the resignation of football director Zvonimir Boban on January 25.
The former Croatian playmaker, semi-finalist of the World Cup-98, slammed the door, expressing “his great concern and his total disapproval” in the face of the Slovenian president’s desire to stay in power beyond 12 years, indicating that he was leaving UEFA in the name of “the principles and values in which (he believes) deeply”.
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