Ceferin, re-elected UEFA president

the slovenian Alexander Ceferinthe only candidate, was re-elected president of UEFA for a new term of four years, until 2027, during the Congress of the continental organization in Lisbon.

“It means a lot to me, it’s a big honor and a big responsibility,” he said. Ceferin no one can be re-elected to take the reins of UEFAa position he has held since September 14, 2016, and in which he faces his third term in defense of European football, unity, solidarity and sporting merit as a banner, after a mandate conditioned by the pandemic, the Super League and the war of Ukraine and to changes in competitions from 2024, such as the Champions League, which will increase its teams to 36, or the League of Nationsthat there will be a new knockout round.

Born in Grosuplje, Sloveniaon October 13, 1967, Ceferin he was also president of the Slovenian Football Association (NZS). He graduated in Law from the University of Ljubljana and worked in the family law firm, where he replaced his father as director and continued the practice of defending victims without recourse in cases of human rights violations free of charge.

So, in 2006 he represented the gypsy family Strojanwho was expelled from his hometown in Sloveniaa fact that led to a political scandal because of the attitude of the authorities.

As a lawyer, he specializes in criminal and commercial matters, dealing with issues related to professional athletes and sports clubs.

In 2005 he joined the board of KMN Svea Lesna Litija, a leading futsal team in his country, and the amateur soccer team. FC Ljubljana Lawyersto join the executive committee of NK Olimpija Ljubliana between 2006 and 2011, a team that rose from the Third Division to the First Division in the 2009-10 season.

In February 2011 he was elected president of the Slovenian Football Association, where he was re-elected in February 2015, as the sole candidate.

As head of his country’s federation, he managed to attract more spectators to the stadiums, improve media coverage and locate the organization in a new, modern and well-equipped headquarters in the town of Brdo pri Kranj, north of Ljubljana.

Within UEFA, he held the position of second vice-president of its Legal Committee and was a member of FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

On September 14, 2016, he was elected to succeed Michel Platini in front of UEFA by defeating Michael van Praag, president of the Dutch Federation, by 42 votes to 13; At the UEFA Congress on February 7, 2019 in Rome, where he was the only candidate, he was re-elected by acclamation as head of the body governing continental football. Furthermore, in October 2022, he confirmed his intention to run for re-election.

At this stage, the UEFA approved in 2022 the new Champions League from the 2024-2025 season, In addition, FIFA and UEFA decided in February 2022 to suspend all Russian national teams and clubs from participating in both competitions, which means that the Russia at the World Cup in Qatar 2022.

Recently, regarding the “Negreira case” of possible corruption, Ceferin said that he considered that the situation of FC Barcelona it is “exceptionally serious”.

Since he came to office due to the crisis that triggered the FIFA corruption case in 2015, Ceferin increased his authority for seven years Europe and in international football, with firm actions and messages against the “selfishness” that the Super League represents for him or the “strong condemnation of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine”.

Here are added the immediate decisions. Transfer of St. Petersburg in Paris the last final of the “Champions”, 24 hours after the entry of Russia into Ukraine; Three days later, he broke the contract with Gazprom, the Russian energy company with which UEFA has been linked since 2012, and clubs and teams from Russia and Belarus were excluded from their competitions.

He showed the same steadfastness when the FIFA defended a World Cup every two years, which Ceferin He described it “as a populist project, which will destroy football”, and especially the Super League, its main workhorse since it burst onto the scene before UEFA opened its annual congress on April 20, 2021.

Statements such as “the Super League is the result of the greed, selfishness and narcissism of a few”, or that its defenders “believe they are great and untouchable, but now they are giants, it is partly thanks to UEFA which for 60 years has protected the ideal of competitions, is based on sporting merit” is a constant.

The case awaits the decision of the Court of Justice of the EU, scheduled for this spring, which will be binding for the Commercial Court number 17 of Madrid and resolve the complaint filed by the promoters of the Super League against the UEFA and FIFA for abuse of dominant position against European regulations.

Before the Super League slot, which they returned Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, Ceferin had to react to the pandemic, with difficult decisions such as postponing the 2020 Euro Cup to 2021, releasing €236.5 million to help federations and €70 million to clubs. It recently celebrated that they increased revenue by 4.6% on average.

Unity is one of the principles which Ceferin appealed the decisions of the body, which, through its Foundation, created an aid fund for Ukraine and donated €200,000 for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.

Women’s football and the environment also have a place in their diary. four years ago the UEFA launched “Time for Action”, its first strategy for the first to reach the number of 2.5 million practitioners in 2024 and in December 2021 approved its 2030 Football Sustainability Strategy, to respect human rights and the environmental environment in the context of European football.