Football: the possible reappointment of Ceferin opens a crisis at UEFA

Aleksander Ceferin. ANA-MPA – Alexandros Beltes

Zvonimir Boban, UEFA football director, slammed the door of the body on Thursday to protest against a maneuver by its president Aleksander Ceferin, which would allow him to be re-elected until 2031.

This procedure initiated by Ceferin echoes similar regulatory changes carried out last year at Fifa and considered at the International Olympic Committee.

Zvonimir Boban, directeur du football à l'UEFA, reproche à Aleksander Ceferin de vouloir changer les statuts pour briguer un nouveau mandat, et de « tourner le dos aux valeurs » qu'il avait défendues lors de son élection, en 2016. https://t.co/ocLfhyCqDy pic.twitter.com/JgVEL5VbTR

— L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) January 25, 2024

Semi-finalist of the World Cup-98 with Croatia, the former AC Milan midfielder explains, in a letter sent to several European media, having expressed to Ceferin his "his great concern and his total disapproval& ;quot; to the idea of ​​extending the president's lease beyond the twelve-year limit that he himself introduced.

The boss of European football "replied that, in his eyes, there was no legal, moral or ethical problem, and that' he would without the slightest doubt persist with this, in my opinion, disastrous idea,” writes Boban, who chose to "leave UEFA" in the name of the "principles and values ​​in which (he believes) deeply".

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In a short press release, the European body "expresses its gratitude to Mr. Boban for his dedicated services" and evokes a departure "by mutual agreement" of his head of football, in office since 2021, without commenting on the strong criticism addressed to Aleksander Ceferin.

Aleksander Ceferin says he is "very tired"

Yet the possible retention of the 56-year-old Slovenian lawyer at the head of UEFA promises to be the main subject of the 48th Congress of the organization, which will be held on February 8 in Paris, especially since the debate goes beyond European football and touches on the governance of world sport.

Aleksander Ceferin. EPA – MOHAMMED BADRA

Aleksander Ceferin, who has been president of UEFA since September 2016 and was reappointed in April 2023 for what should have been his last four-year term, presented in December, during&# 39;a meeting of the executive committee, a proposed amendment to the statutes of the body which gives it the possibility of extension.

Technically, this text submitted to the vote of the next congress does not remove the three-term limit, one of the key measures taken in April 2017 by the Slovenian leader, after the cascade of scandals which had led to similar limitations at FIFA and the IOC.

But the amendment consulted by AFP specifies that this rule, valid for all members of the executive committee, does not take into account mandates “started before July 1, 2017”, i.e. Ceferin's first lease. The only justification provided is "the legal principle of non-retroactivity".

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"I haven't yet decided whether I want to seek re-election or not. To be honest, I'm very tired,” the leader said on Wednesday when interviewed by the Daily Telegraph.

After Infantino and before Bach 

In the same series of proposals there is the removal of the age limit of 70 years for being elected or re-elected to the executive committee, on the grounds that the three-term cap is considered sufficient in this regard. ;.

Aleksander Ceferin. MAXPPP – Mike Egerton

However, this is the other measure put forward by Ceferin in 2017 to break with an “old and corrupt system”, recalls Boban. With these “historic” reforms, the Slovenian lawyer had “earned the respect of the entire football community and the public, and had become an indisputable moral authority and, for many, a guide towards better football,” insists the Croatian.

If UEFA were to adopt these changes in February, it would follow in the footsteps of Fifa: re-elected in March 2023 by acclamation, its boss Gianni Infantino had made it clear that he was completing his "first mandate”, therefore excluding from the calculation of the maximum three mandates the period 2016-2019, when he was elected after the resignation of Sepp Blatter.

Le président de l’UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, évoque l’exode de certains joueurs d’Europe vers l’Arabie saoudite, ne se montrant "pas du tout inquiet" sur le futur du football européen qui "fait partie de la culture" et "ne s’achète pas".https://t.co/zB3lO9TtK5

— RMC Sport (@RMCsport) January 24, 2024

An identical debate is agitating the International Olympic Committee, led since 2013 by the German Thomas Bach, who must theoretically leave his post in 2025. Last October in Bombay, four members of the The organization suggested a reform of the texts during its next session, in July in Paris, to allow it to be extended.

If Bach reserves his position for the moment, this idea is far from unanimous. "I pay attention to the type of image that we can give around the world", underlined the Japanese Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Gymnastics Federation, recalling the & ;quot;corruption issues" who have tarnished the reputation of the sporting world.