No run for office in March 2027
Two hundred and eleven federations, one vote each, and Aleksander Ceferin will not be on the ballot. The UEFA chief confirmed on Monday that he will not stand at the FIFA presidential election set for March 2027 in Rabat.
The 58-year-old Slovenian has run European football’s governing body since 2016. He would rather keep his focus in Nyon than chase the global job. The question had been doing the rounds in European football corridors for months, and it is now settled.
The timing is not accidental. Gianni Infantino’s current term expires at that same election.
Try it for $0.99.
Standing aside to hit harder
Ceferin calls the decision strategic. His opposition to Infantino would be “far more credible”, he argues, if he is not trying to take the job himself. It kills off the usual whispers about personal ambition.
The two men have been at loggerheads for years. The UEFA president even weighed sanctions against European officials who backed the FIFA chief. The split is old and very public.
UEFA will keep pushing for change at the top of world football, the Slovenian warned. Not running is not the same as walking away.
A challenger kept under wraps
If Infantino goes for another term, Ceferin suggested, someone could be lined up against him. He named nobody.
One name keeps surfacing in the background: Victor Montagliani. The Canadian heads Concacaf and ticks the non-European box, which counts in a vote where all 211 member federations have equal weight. A bid backed by UEFA but fronted by an official from the Americas would sidestep the familiar complaint that world football is run out of Europe.
March 2027, Morocco. Infantino, who also took charge of FIFA in 2016, has said nothing about his own intentions.
Discover the rest of the FOOTBALL news on our website and mathodds app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply