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 big UEFA milestones that have marked the president's years at the helm of European football's governing body.
Protecting the game
In 2019, Aleksander Čeferin unveiled Together for the Future of Football, a five-year strategy that set out his vision for protecting and promoting the European game.
This was followed in 2024 by our current strategy, United for Success, which contains seven strategic priorities to guide UEFA and our stakeholders through to 2030.
1) Be at the core of society: to be a unifying force across European football, contributing to a more open and inclusive society.
2) Ensure opportunities to all, from grassroots to elite: a thriving football ecosystem at every level across Europe, with the opportunity for everybody to participate.
3) Strengthen the game's fundamentals: to have a united European football ecosystem through a system of open, competitive and sustainable competitions.
4) Work together to the highest governance standards: an inclusive culture where best practices are shared to achieve common goals and every voice of the football family is listened to.
5) Organise world-class competitions: staging the most followed sporting events in the world, delivering sporting excellence for all supporters and maximising revenues for investment back into the game.
6) Maximise the potential of women's football: inspiring more girls and women to play and follow football across Europe, driving more professional opportunities, creating more pathways and delivering more compelling and financially sustainable competitions.
7) Pursue a culture of sustainability: reducing the impact of football on the environment, leveraging its power to raise awareness and catalyse action.
Aleksander Čeferin's commitment to solidarity has safeguarded European football from two of its toughest challenges: a global pandemic and the ill-fated proposal for a so-called 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, allowing 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 championed European football's return to play: first, by overseeing UEFA's approval of a rigorous medical and operational protocol; and second, by introducing 'final eight' knockout tournaments to complete our 2019/20 club competitions before the 2020/21 season kicked 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 proposal for a so-called European Super League. 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 (EU) approved resolutions endorsing the model. This support was reaffirmed at the UEFA Congress in February 2024, with 26 EU sports ministers issuing a joint declaration emphasising 'the importance of protecting and strengthening' the model.
The UEFA president represents UEFA and chairs the UEFA Congress, as well as the 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: AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), Concacaf (North and Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America) and OFC (Oceania)
- Our 55 member national 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.
Football development
The UEFA president has ensured that 97.5% of UEFA's total net revenue is reinvested throughout the football pyramid, from the grassroots to elite levels.
HatTrick programme
At the 2022 UEFA Congress in Vienna, Aleksander Čeferin announced record levels of funding for the 2024–28 cycle of our HatTrick programme, which channels men’s EURO revenue into football development projects through our member associations. Almost €1 billion will be invested between 2024 and 2028 in every aspect of the game – stadiums and training facilities, women's football, coach and referee courses, young players' development, governance and social and environmental sustainability.
"While there is no single secret ingredient behind HatTrick's success, several pivotal factors contribute to its effectiveness. These include partnership and collaboration, transparency and accountability, adaptability and flexibility, and a global perspective."
UEFA Together
The launch of the UEFA Assist programme in 2017 extended our football development support worldwide by sharing European football's know-how with our five sister confederations, including their regional and member associations.
In 2024, its successor – UEFA Together – was launched to build on our existing collaborations with the AFC (Asia and Australia), CAF (Africa), Concacaf (North and Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America) and the OFC (New Zealand and South Pacific island nations).
Men's competitions
Under the president's guidance, we have continued to evolve the formats of our club and national team competitions – women's and men's – both to raise standards and maximise access for every association and club.
Nations League
The introduction of the men’s UEFA Nations League has not only guaranteed more competitive matches for national teams. It has invigorated football in Europe's smaller countries, and the centralisation of commercial rights has generated reliable additional revenue for associations to invest in the game.
Conference League
Since its launch in 2022, the UEFA Conference League – alongside the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League – has brought European matchdays to more teams and countries than ever before. More than 230 clubs now line up on the starting grid of our three elite club competitions, and 52 of our 55 member associations have now been represented in the group stage or league phase of a senior European club competition.
New formats
Implemented from the 2024/25 season, an expanded Champions League, Europa League and Conference League format – replacing the traditional group stage with a 36-team league phase – has invigorated European football with more variety, unpredictability and competitive balance.
Women's football
Ground-breaking strategies
Aleksander Čeferin oversaw the implementation of UEFA's first-ever women's football strategy, Time for Action, a crucial driving force behind the doubling of the number of women and girls playing football across our member associations. Our current women's football strategy, Unstoppable, builds on its predecessor's successes. It pledges €1bn of competition revenues and UEFA invesment through to 2030, supporting the march to more growth and a sustainable future for the women's game.
Women's EURO 2025
UEFA Women's EURO 2025 was a record-breaking European Women's Championship on multiple fronts. A record 657,291 spectators attended its 31 matches – 29 of which were sold out – while prize money was more than double that of Women's EURO 2022, reaching €41m, with players receiving a guaranteed share for the first time.
"With record-breaking attendance, exceptional media coverage and unprecedented global interest, UEFA Women's EURO 2025 captured the world's attention."
Women's Champions League
Introduced for the 2025/26 season, a new 18-team league phase and financial distribution model – driven by centralised media and sponsorship rights – is revolutionising the Women's Champions League and benefiting clubs across the continent.
Women's Europa Cup
The introduction of a second women's competition in 2025/25 is providing opportunities for more players and teams to experience European football, and further incentivising investment in women's football at domestic level.
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 regularly brings these stakeholders together to address big 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 European Football Clubs (EFC) 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 our cooperation until 2030. The MoU was further extended a year later and now runs to 2033.
European institutions
Aleksander Čeferin has played a leading role in expanding UEFA's collaboration with European political organisations, in particular 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 and the introduction of continental showdowns between the best European and South American national teams in men's and women's football, at senior and youth level, and in futsal. The second Finalissima, set to be held in March 2026, will see Copa América holders Argentina face off against EURO 2024 champions Spain.
Good governance
Within a year of his election, Aleksander Čeferin honoured his manifesto by securing UEFA Congress approval for wide-ranging governance reforms:
- Limit on the number of terms served by UEFA presidents and UEFA Executive Committee members.
- All Executive Committee candidates required to hold an active office in their 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 EFC (formerly ECA) 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 further develop the financial fair play measures established in 2010 to safeguard the long-term sustainability of European football. In May 2024, UEFA approved new Club Licensing and Financial Sustainability Regulations, covering six areas of football governance: sporting, social and environmental sustainability, infrastructure, personnel and administrative, legal and financial.
Social impact
The UEFA president has worked tirelessly to ensure football leverages its enormous power for social good.
Sustainability strategy
In 2022, UEFA introduced our 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, 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. The UEFA foundation celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2025. To date, €54m in grants has helped to finance 577 life-changing projects for 4.9 million children in 138 countries.
Common Goal
The president joined the football-led charity movement Common Goal, pledging 1% of his salary to support the organisation's projects.
Previous UEFA presidents
Find out more about UEFA's previous presidents, dating back to 1954.