Aleksander Ceferin has told European football's national association leaders that he wants another four years as Uefa president.
The Slovenian set out his intention to seek re-election at a meeting in Berlin on Thursday morning.
He is seeking a fourth term as Uefa president, with the vote due to take place at next year's Uefa Congress in Astana, Kazakhstan. If successful, the term would run through to 2031. Ceferin was first elected to the presidency in 2016.
His candidacy is only possible because of controversial changes to presidential term limits in Uefa's statutes, which were voted through at the governing body's 2024 Congress in Paris.
The Football Association opposed those changes.
After the alterations were approved, Ceferin said he would not be standing again in any case, saying he had made up his mind six months previously to step away when his third term ends in 2027.
Ceferin told delegates on Thursday: “I want to thank the national associations for their trust.
“We have faced extraordinary challenges over the past years and we have faced them as one team. There is still important work ahead and I have therefore accepted their request.
“My ambition remains the same – to keep European football united, make our game stronger and leave Uefa ready for the next generation. I am also deeply grateful to my family. This decision asks a great deal of them too and I could not have taken it without their understanding and support.”
Ceferin had already ruled himself out of standing for the Fifa presidency against Gianni Infantino.
A further four years of Ceferin arguably brings certainty and unity to Uefa at a time when it is focused on robustly challenging the Fifa presidency of Infantino.
Ceferin has been vocal in his opposition to Infantino since it emerged in July that the Swiss was working on a plan to seek private investment in a company to manage the commercial interests of Fifa's tournaments, including the men's and women's World Cups.
Uefa said it had lost confidence in Infantino over his handling of that plan. In August, it announced it would seek to identify a credible alternative to stand against him.
There had been speculation in September that Thursday's meeting in Berlin could be the point at which Uefa coalesced around a candidate, but that has not materialised.
Uefa vice-president Laura McAllister denied any suggestion of double standards over Ceferin potentially serving 15 years at the top of European football, amid the body’s legal action against Infantino.
Uefa’s legal application for disclosure of documents linked to Infantino’s private investor plan referenced moves within Fifa to discount the Swiss’ first term in order for him to stand again in 2027, but McAllister insisted there was no hypocrisy in Uefa’s position.
“I don’t think (double standards) is how it would be characterised because obviously there’s been clarification of our own statutes, and this is completely within statute,” she said.
“It would be crazy to look at changing the leadership of Uefa at a time when there’s such global uncertainty about the future direction of football.
“We’ve raised our voices very loudly in opposition to Fifa and Infantino, and I think it’s really right that we have a core security to be able to manage the process of challenging Infantino and not just his candidature as leader, but also the structure and the governance of Fifa more widely.
“We have to have strong leadership at this moment because the alternative is to have more turmoil in European football leadership, which doesn’t serve anybody well at a time when European football is so united in opposition to the leadership of Fifa.”
The deadline for candidates to be submitted for the Fifa presidency is 18 November. Uefa sources have indicated a confidence that a candidate will be identified by then.
On Wednesday, former Tottenham defender Ramon Vega became the first person to officially announce their intention to challenge Infantino.
Infantino, who has also been in post since 2016, still appears to be a formidable opponent. He retains a strong power base particularly in Africa and South America, but also among many Middle East nations, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, also appears to have softened his stance towards Infantino in a letter seen by the Press Association.
Sheikh Salman has previously joined Ceferin and Victor Montagliani, the president of Concacaf, in calling on Infantino to step down.
His new letter, however, suggests the creation of an internal working group to examine potential Fifa governance reforms.
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