Aleksander Ceferin refuses to confirm he is stepping down as Uefa president

Aleksander Ceferin has been Uefa president since 2016 (Getty Images)

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has refused to confirm he is standing down as president in 2027, appearing to change his position from an announcement at the federation's congress that he would not seek a fourth term.

Any such move could bring new scrutiny on Uefa, at a time when the EU and European Commission are monitoring the governance of European football.

The Slovenian official has been in the role since 2016, after replacing French great Michel Platini, who was forced to resign after the 2015 Fifa scandal that engulfed football. While that meant one of his three allowed terms wasn't a full term, eyebrows were then raised at Uefa's Congress in Paris in February, when motions were voted through that amended rules so Ceferin could potentially seek another full term in 2027. The commotion that caused eventually saw the 56-year-old announce in a rare press conference that he had decided he is "not planning to run in 2027 anymore".

Curiously, Ceferin then refused to elaborate on that, and there was further uncertainty to that position in an interview with ZDFheute on the eve of Euro 2024. The Slovenian was directly asked whether this would be his last European Championships as Uefa president.

"I don't want to say anything about my future or the presidency," Ceferin answered. "All that matters to me now is the Euro. No comment on other things."

Given the way the executive presidency role in such federations works, the role has a huge amount of power, in what almost amounts to a patronage system due to the way Uefa spreads money around the game.

There is now a belief among dissenting voices within Uefa that there will be a move from Ceferin's backers to ask him to run again in 2027. His current position appears to be to leave that possibility open.