Election candidates at Copenhagen Congress

The UEFA Executive Committee has been informed of the candidates who will be running for elections on the occasion of the XXXIII Ordinary UEFA Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark on 25 March.

Twelve candidates
The closing date for applications was set for 26 January 2009 – two months prior to the staging of the Congress – in accordance with UEFA statutes. A total of 12 representatives from UEFA's national associations have submitted their candidature for election to the UEFA Executive Committee, with nine seats available for the 2009-2013 period. Eight available positions are four-year terms and the other is for two years.

Expiring terms of offices
The term of office of the following seven members of the UEFA Executive Committee expires in 2009: Marios N Lefkaritis (Cyprus), Geoffrey Thompson (England), Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (Germany), Dr Franco Carraro (Italy), Dr Mathieu Sprengers (Netherlands)†, Per Ravn Omdal (Norway), Dr Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia).

Increase in members
In addition, the number of members has been increased in the statutes following the decision of the UEFA Extraordinary Congress in May 2007 and an additional two positions will be available, so that the Executive Committee will be composed of the President and 15 members.

Standing for re-election
Two of the Executive Committee members whose period in office is expiring, are standing for re-election. They are Geoffrey Thompson (England) and Marios N Lefkaritis (Cyprus). Completing the list of twelve candidates are; Tomás Gea (Andorra), Allan Hansen (Denmark), Nodar Akhalkatsi (Georgia), Theo Zwanziger (Germany), Abraham Luzon (Israel), Giancarlo Abete (Italy), Michael van Praag (Netherlands), František Laurinec (Slovakia), Liutauras Varanavicius (Lithuania), and Peter Rees (Wales).

European members of the FIFA Executive Committee
In addition, the terms of office of four European members of the FIFA Executive Committee - Michel D'Hooghe (Belgium), Marios N Lefkaritis (Cyprus), Şenes Erzik (Turkey), Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia) - will end at the FIFA Congress to be held from 31 May to 3 June 2009 in the Bahamas. The first three members will stand for re-election and will be joined on the list of candidates by Vitaly Mutko (Russia).

The full list of current members whose term of office is expiring as well as the list of candidates is detailed below:

UEFA Executive Committee
Terms of office expiring
Marios N Lefkaritis (Cyprus)
Geoffrey Thompson (England)
Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (Germany)
Dr Franco Carraro (Italy)
Dr Mathieu Sprengers (Netherlands)†
Per Ravn Omdal (Norway)
Dr Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia)

Candidates for the new term
Tomás Gea (Andorra)
Marios N Lefkaritis (Cyprus)
Allan Hansen (Denmark)
Geoffrey Thompson (England)
Nodar Akhalkatsi (Georgia)
Theo Zwanziger (Germany)
Abraham Luzon (Israel)
Giancarlo Abete (Italy)
Liutauras Varanavicius (Lithuania)
Michael van Praag (Netherlands)
František Laurinec (Slovakia)
Peter Rees (Wales)

European members of the FIFA Executive Committee:
Terms of office expiring
Michel D'Hooghe (Belgium)
Marios N. Lefkaritis (Cyprus)
Dr Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia)
Şenes Erzik (Turkey)

Candidates for the new term
Michel D'Hooghe (Belgium)
Marios N. Lefkaritis (Cyprus)
Vitaly Mutko (Russia)
Şenes Erzik (Turkey)