September 18 – UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin who is up for re-election next February 7 and UEFA’s Congress in Rome, has been given the backing of the Austrian FA (ÖFB).
Following a meeting of the ÖFB’s Bureau last week, ÖFB President Dr. Leo Windtner (pictured) said in a statement: “The ÖFB will vote again for Aleksander Čeferin, as he has represented the concerns of small and medium-sized associations very well. Aleksander Čeferin has made a fresh start in many areas of UEFA and we will continue to support him in the best possible way on his way.”
Ceferin has already been formally nominated for re-election by his home federation in Slovenia ahead of next year’s ballot and according to the Slovenian FA on its website that a group of eight other federations had sent an “official proposal” of support for Ceferin.
Along with Slovenia, the federations who have announced their support are the Scandinavian bloc of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Iceland plus Italy and the Republic of Ireland; and now Austria.
Ceferin succeeded Michel Platini at the head of European football’s governing body in 2016 following his ban and is currently fulfilling the rest of his presidential term. Platini was banned by FIFA over the infamous CHF2 million “disloyal payment” he received from Sepp Blatter.
Ceferin, relatively unknown at the time outside his own country, won a landslide 42-13 victory over then-UEFA vice president Michael van Praag of the Netherlands.
There is a November 7 deadline for potential candidates to apply provided they have the backing of at least three countries. They then have to pass an eligibility test. Currently no contenders to Ceferin for the UEFA presidency look to be on the horizon.
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