By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – True to his word in the wake of his stunning election victory last September, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has announced sweeping changes to the organisation’s governance structure, highlighted by term limits and a ban on anyone outside senior national association positions from joining UEFA’s inner sanctum.
UEFA was widely criticised during Michel Platini’s reign for its lack of a credible ethics code and Ceferin, who rose from relative obscurity to become the most powerful figure in European football administration, has been quick to tackle the issue, with his top brass today approving a range of reforms.
Provided UEFA’s 55 member nations rubber-stamp the revamp at their Congress in Helsinki in early April, both the UEFA president and members of his executive committee will in future only be able to serve for a maximum of three four-year terms, with any partial term of office counting as one full term.
And to prevent opportunists lacking sufficient football experience from running for exco membership, candidates must hold an “active office in their respective national association” – specifically president, vice-president, general secretary or CEO.
Conversely, Ceferin is seeking to make UEFA’s governance and compliance committee more watertight and credible by adding two independent members to the current three-man body.
“I promised certain governance reforms even before I was elected,” Ceferin told a sparsely attended press conference immediately after the first UEFA exco meeting of the year. “Currently there are no term limits, only an age limit of 70 which stays in place. The reforms are backed almost 100% by the national associations and now by the exco.”
Ceferin said that in the past there was too much of a disconnect between senior UEFA officials from outside national associations and their respective governing bodies. “The lack of connection was a problem. Now we will change the statutes.”
The new statutes, if approved in Helsinki, will come into force in July.
Mindful of the power of the biggest European clubs, Ceferin has also taken the canny step of granting two full member positions on the exco to the European Club Association.
This, however, could cause considerable friction with Europe’s leagues who have threatened to cause trouble unless they, too, are represented at UEFA’s top table so that they can have a say in proposed major changes to the Champions League that favours the haves over the have-nots.
Until now, under an agreement between UEFA and the European Professional Football leagues (EPFL), domestic top-flight fixtures have been outlawed whenever Champions League fixtures take place. But the so-called Memorandum of Understanding could be ripped up if UEFA continues to bend to the demands of the Continent’s elite clubs and refuses to amend the changes by mid-march. That would then allow for individual leagues to schedule games against the Champions League.
“We are still talking about potential inclusion of the leagues,” said Ceferin. “It might happen at the Congress in Helsinki, or it might not. It depends on our talks.”
UEFA are also introducing a women’s football unit and revamping the responsibilities of its various vice-presidents, making sure in future that each of them in future has a specific role to play. “Nobody could explain to me what it meant to be a fourth vice-president of UEFA,” said Ceferin. “To be a third, fourth or fifth vice-president doesn’t mean anything to me.”
Bidding procedures have also been amended with the inclusion of a specific article in the UEFA Statutes “to ensure that venues for all UEFA competitions are selected in a fully objective manner through a transparent bidding process.”
Repeating previous assertions that politics will no longer play a part in the award of major finals, Ceferin declared: “From now on, for every single UEFA competition there will be a transparent process. No more political favours.
“UEFA has not had many ethical issues but these changes put ethics and good governance as a statutory objective.”
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