Ceferin seeks fourth Uefa term as pressure mounts on Infantino to quit Fifa

Aleksander Ceferin has confirmed to European football’s national association leaders that he intends to seek a fourth term as Uefa president, the Press Association understands. The Slovenian set out his ambition at a meeting in Berlin on Thursday, with the vote scheduled for next year’s Uefa Congress in Astana, Kazakhstan. If elected, his term would run through to 2031.

Ceferin was first elected to the presidency in 2016 and his continued candidacy is only possible because of controversial changes to Uefa’s presidential term limits, voted through at the governing body’s 2024 Congress in Paris. The Football Association opposed those changes. Notably, after the alterations were approved, Ceferin had publicly stated he would not stand again, saying he had decided six months earlier to step away when his third term ends in 2027.

The reversal comes against the backdrop of an intensifying conflict between Uefa and Fifa president Gianni Infantino. Ceferin has been outspoken in his opposition to Infantino since July, when it emerged the Swiss official was pursuing a plan to attract private investment into a company managing the commercial rights to Fifa’s tournaments, including the men’s and women’s World Cups. Uefa subsequently announced it had lost confidence in Infantino and said it would seek a credible alternative candidate to stand against him.

A further four-year Ceferin presidency is seen by some within Uefa as providing stability and continuity at a moment when the organisation is focused on challenging Infantino’s leadership of world football’s governing body.

The deadline for Fifa presidential candidates to be submitted is November 18. Uefa sources have expressed confidence that a challenger to Infantino will be identified before that date. There had been speculation that Thursday’s Berlin meeting could be the moment Uefa coalesced around a specific candidate, but no announcement materialised.

On Wednesday, former Tottenham defender Ramon Vega became the first person to officially declare his intention to run against Infantino. Despite the opposition gathering, Infantino remains a formidable figure — he retains a strong power base in Africa, South America, and across much of the Middle East, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The president of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, also appears to have softened his stance toward Infantino, according to a letter seen by the Press Association.