September 30: Nasser Al Khelaifi and European Football Clubs (EFC) have backed UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin to stand for re-election next year.
At the general assembly of European football clubs, a stakeholder gathering of more than 850 clubs from across the continent, the organization’s president and PSG president Al Khelaifi (right of Ceferin) said: “We need you to be UEFA president again next year because we need strong leadership like you to protect our sport, to protect our passion.”
It was an eye-catching endorsement for Ceferin, who seized the meeting in the Danish capital to lash out at Gianni Infantino, saying “The emperor is naked”.
Al Khelaifi has commented on the chasm that has opened up in world football, caused by Infantino’s abandoned plans to sell them to the World Cup: “Football works when we listen to each other, when we are transparent with each other. Whatever our differences, football is bigger and more important than any of us.”
In 2024, Ceferin had said he would not run again despite a rule change that allowed him to run for another term. Previous rules allowed a president to serve three terms, but the new ruling meant that Ceferin’s initial term, when he replaced Michel Platini in 2016 halfway through a four-year term, did not count as a full term.
Ceferin has not yet confirmed that he will stand for re-election at the UEFA Congress in Kazakhstan next year.
The relationship between UEFA and the EFC has grown in recent years through UC3, the joint venture that manages the commercial rights for European club competitions. The two organizations also have a memorandum of understanding for game development.
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