As Aleksander Ceferin aims to continue in office as President of UEFA until 2031, but Executive Committee member David Gill is leading a group to push back on the controversial plans.
According to the Daily Mail, the former Manchester United Chief Executive is aiming to stop amendments to the UEFA Statute to rectify a guideline that would allow Ceferin to keep hold of his position for a fourth term.
Plans for Ceferin to serve a future fourth term in office were laid out during a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Hamburg last week, with Gill reportedly acting “angrily” upon hearing, as the current President and his supporters aim to ratify these plans at the next UEFA Congress in February.
Gill spoke out against the plans at the meeting in Hamburg as he views this to be “undemocratic” and not within the best interests of football for the European footballing body, according to the Daily Mail.
Under current UEFA Statutes law, the President is only allowed to serve a three-term stay in the position before the next is elected.
Ceferin aims to make the amendment to enable him to serve a fourth term, which will have to be agreed upon at the UEFA Congress in Paris, needing a majority vote of two-thirds of 28 votes in order for it to be enacted.
This, however, brought alarm bells to Gill’s ears as he believes that this would be far too reminiscent of what Sepp Blatter did under his controversial reign as FIFA President, as well as Michel Platini in his role as UEFA President.
Gill is also not alone in his stance against the term amendment, with other ExCo members expressing their concern over the proposals as the former United chief will lead a group to speak with national associations about rejecting it.
Ironically, it was Ceferin who introduced the three-term limit as one of his first reform policies as UEFA President when he took over from Platini in 2016, after his predecessor was banned from football after receiving unauthorised payments as part of the wider FIFA bribery scandal.
Under the current statute, Ceferin is due to leave his role in 2027 after he was first elected to take over the final two years of Platini’s reign in 2016, and then was re-elected in 2019 and in early 2023.
