UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin
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Aleksander Čeferin, a lawyer and former president of the Football Association of Slovenia (NZS), has served as UEFA president since 2016. He was re-elected for another four-year term at our annual congress in Lisbon on 5 April 2023.
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We highlight some of the main UEFA milestones that have marked the President's first seven years at the helm of European football's governing body.
Protecting the game
In 2019, Aleksander Čeferin unveiled UEFA's five-year strategy called Together for the Future of Football, which set out his vision for protecting and promoting the European game. Under his leadership, we have made impressive progress against our five strategic goals: increased participation, competitiveness, good governance, prosperity and social and environmental responsibility.
The UEFA president represents UEFA and chairs our congress, as well as meetings of our Executive Committee. In the event of a tie in any vote, the president has the casting vote.
The president is responsible for UEFA's relations with:
- FIFA
- Our five sister confederations: CAF (Africa), AFC (Asia and Australia), Concacaf (North & Central America and the Caribbean), OFC (Oceania), and CONMEBOL (South America)
- Our 55 member associations
- Political bodies and international organisations
By supervising the UEFA administration, based in Nyon, Switzerland, the president is also responsible for implementing the decisions of the UEFA Congress and the Executive Committee. In carrying out these responsibilities, the president consults with the Executive Committee. In his absence, the first UEFA vice-president assumes the president's powers and duties.
Aleksander Čeferin’s commitment to sacrifice and solidarity safeguarded European football from two of its toughest challenges: a global pandemic and the ill-fated proposal for a closed European Super League.
Global pandemic
After the COVID-19 virus halted all sport in early 2020, UEFA moved swiftly to postpone EURO 2020 by 12 months. This allowed Europe's domestic leagues to complete their seasons in the summer. Simultaneously, we advanced HatTrick development funding to our member associations to mitigate the pandemic's financial hit and adjusted our financial fair play rules to help elite clubs offset lost ticket sales and broadcast revenue.
The UEFA president also championed European football's return to play. First, by overseeing UEFA's approval of a rigorous medical and operational protocol; second, by switching to final-eight, knockout tournaments to complete our club competitions before the 2020/21 season kick-off. One year later, the president also recognised the important role of EURO 2020 in signalling that fans could safely return to stadiums.
European sports model
In 2021, Aleksander Čeferin united associations, leagues, clubs and fans as well as political institutions to successfully oppose the ill-fated European Super League proposal. Our actions reinforced the European sports model, whose values – in particular, qualification based on sporting merit – have shaped UEFA's competitions for more than 70 years. With UEFA support, in November 2021, both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union approved resolutions endorsing the model.
Football development
The UEFA president has ensured that 97% of UEFA's total net revenue is reinvested across the football pyramid, from grassroots to elite levels.
HatTrick programme
At the 2018 UEFA Congress in Bratislava, Aleksander Čeferin announced record levels of funding for the 2020–24 cycle of our HatTrick programme, which channels men’s EURO revenue into football development projects through our member associations. From 2024 to 2028, this amount will rise by 21%. Almost €1 billion will benefit every aspect of the game: stadiums and training facilities, women's football, coach and referee courses, young players' development, governance, and social responsibility initiatives.
Assist
In 2017, the launch of the UEFA Assist programme extended our football development support beyond Europe. The initiative shares European football's know-how with our five sister confederations, including their regional and member associations.
"European football must remain … respectful, respectable and respected."
Men’s competitions
Under the president's guidance, we have continued to evolve the formats of our men's and women's club and national team competitions, both to raise standards and maximise access for every association and club.
- The introduction of the men’s UEFA Nations League has not only guaranteed more competitive matches for national teams. It has raised the game's status in Europe's smaller countries, while the centralisation of commercial rights has generated revenue for associations to invest in the game.
- Since its launch in 2022, the UEFA Europa Conference League – alongside the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League – has brought European football nights to more teams and countries than ever. Some 700 clubs now line up on the starting grid of our three elite club competitions.
- The overhaul of the UEFA Women's Champions League in 2021/22 quickly delivered on its main objectives of increased competitiveness, value and status – all key drivers for the long-term sustainability of the women's game.
Women's football
Time for Action
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin has overseen the implementation of UEFA's first-ever women's football strategy – Time for Action – backed by a 50% increase in funding. Positive returns have included more opportunities and structures available for women and girls to enjoy football than ever before, more European associations approving their own strategies, and more visibility and value for our women's competitions.
Women's EURO 2022
In October 2021, the UEFA president announced a doubling of prize money for UEFA Women's EURO 2022, paving the way for the biggest European Women's Championship ever, universally heralded as a game-changing moment for women’s football.
Women's Champions League
As part of an extensive overhaul of the Women's Champions League, we have also introduced a new financial distribution model that significantly increases rewards and allocates 'solidarity' payments for all top-division clubs participating in the competition for investment in development initiatives.
Partnership
The UEFA president’s emphasis on building consensus through dialogue has united the entire European football community, from associations, leagues, clubs, players and coaches to fans, agents, commercial partners and policymakers. Since September 2021, UEFA's Convention on the Future of European Football annually brings these stakeholders together to address key issues facing the game.
"I am looking forward to working closely with all of you to ensure that the European football community is always united … now and in the future."
Clubs
Closer relations between UEFA and the European Club Association proved instrumental to evolving the format of our men's club competitions for the 2024–27 cycle. In 2023, the two organisations renewed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) extending their cooperation until 2030.
European institutions
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin has played a lead role in expanding UEFA's collaboration with European political organisations, in particular with the Council of Europe (CoE), the European Commission and members of the European Parliament. Each have provided vital support in our defence of the European sports model.
CONMEBOL
Relations with CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation, are stronger than ever, on and off the pitch, thanks to an extension of our existing MoU until June 2018 and the introduction of continental showdowns between the best European and South American national teams involving men's and women's football at senior and youth level, and in futsal. The first Finalissima, held at Wembley in 2022, saw Copa América holders Argentina triumph over reigning men’s EURO champions Italy.
Good governance
Within a year of his election, Aleksander Čeferin honoured his manifesto by securing UEFA Congress approval for wide-ranging governance reforms:
- Limiting the number of terms served by UEFA presidents and UEFA Executive Committee members.
- All Executive Committee candidates required to hold an active office within their respective national association.
- Ethics and good governance established as a UEFA statutory objective.
To strengthen our collaboration with European football stakeholders, the Executive Committee has created full member positions for two representatives of the European Club Association and one for the European Leagues.
In 2018, we laid solid foundations for strengthening European football governance by approving ten common principles to guide administration, policy-making and strategic thinking across our member associations.
Financial sustainability
Throughout the president's mandate, we have continued to evolve financial fair play measures set up in 2010 to safeguard the long-term sustainability of European football. In April 2022, UEFA approved new Club Licensing and Financial Sustainability regulations, based on solvency, stability and cost control.
Social impact
The UEFA president has worked tirelessly to ensure football leverages its enormous power for social good.
Sustainability strategy
In 2022, UEFA introduced its first sustainability strategy, Strength Through Unity, which measures our progress against 11 social and environmental policies using a set of targets and performance indicators.
UEFA Foundation for Children
In November 2017, the Aleksander Čeferin was elected as chair of the UEFA Foundation for Children – an independent charitable organisation that funds projects around the world that use football to give a better future to vulnerable young people.
Common Goal
The president joined the football-led charity movement Common Goal, pledging 1% of his salary to support the organisation's projects.