FA votes against UEFA rule change allowing Aleksander Ceferin extra term

The Football Association stood alone in showing the red card to changes in UEFA’s rules which will allow Aleksander Ceferin the option of standing for a further four-year term as president from 2027.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham was the sole national federation delegate to hold up a red card rejecting the amendments at the UEFA Congress in Paris, but the motion passed with 49 of the 55 associations holding up a green card in support.

The amendment would mean Ceferin’s partial first term, which began in September 2016, would not count towards the three-term limit, allowing him the possibility of a further term between 2027 and 2031.

UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin kicks off his #UEFACongress speech in Paris:

"This year, UEFA is celebrating its 70th birthday. Seventy years of history, tradition, passion, unity, courage and creativity cannot simply be brushed away – especially when the most exciting… pic.twitter.com/nCKYpP4ZaJ

— UEFA (@UEFA) February 8, 2024

The FA, along with Norway and Iceland, had sought to break up the bundle of rule amendments, because it wholeheartedly supports most of the measures proposed including an increase in minimum female representation on the UEFA executive committee from one to two.

However, a decision was taken to vote for the amendments as a package, forcing the FA to vote against the term limit amendment as a matter of principle, rather than a vote against Ceferin himself.