BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — While stadiums have been packed at the Women’s European Championship in Switzerland, one notable figure has been missing: UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin.
Ceferin was present at the opening ceremony match between Switzerland and Norway on July 2 but hasn’t been seen at any games since. He is, however, expected to attend Sunday’s final between England and Spain.
Ceferin’s absence at UEFA’s main event for women — held every four years — has been a subject of private chatter among soccer officials at an event that has broken attendance records and delivered exhilarating matches.
“Pity he hasn’t shown up,” one soccer official told The Associated Press. “He’s missing the best football of the year.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because criticizing the UEFA president is a delicate matter.
Stakeholders rarely publicly criticize elected leaders of international sports bodies who hold sway over decisions to pick host cities and countries for competitions and can influence future elections.
After Ceferin’s absence became clear during the group stage, UEFA did not respond to multiple requests for details about his whereabouts. UEFA confirmed this week that Ceferin had spent at least part of the time on vacation in Croatia, at the island of Korcula in the Adriatic Sea.
A photograph circulated Tuesday showing Ceferin relaxing with tennis superstar Novak Djokovic and Croatian soccer players Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic. One media outlet in Ceferin’s native Slovenia described the photo as a “unique summer gathering of Balkan sports legends.” It was unclear when it was taken.
On the day it circulated, England beat Italy in a dramatic semifinal game in Geneva just 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Ceferin’s office at UEFA headquarters in Nyon.
Asked Thursday about the UEFA president not yet attending an England game, midfielder Keira Walsh said she focused just on playing.
“I think maybe he could come to some more games, maybe he couldn’t, I don’t know,” Walsh said in Zurich, adding “I don’t really know who’s at the game other than my family.”
Spain star Alexia Putellas said she wasn’t aware of Ceferin’s absence.
“Well, he has missed some good games,” Putellas said. “Maybe he has watched them on TV. I’m sure he’s followed them on TV and experienced them from there. But I don’t know, I have no idea.”
UEFA’s plan for women
UEFA last year launched a six-year $1 billion plan to continue promoting women’s soccer in Europe.
“As we enter this exciting new era,” the UEFA president wrote in a foreword to the “Unstoppable” strategy document last October, “we must continue with the same passion that has driven us this far.”
“Our dedication to the cause remains as strong as ever,” Ceferin wrote.
Yet that commitment hasn’t translated into a physical presence at the tournament in Switzerland.
Last year, UEFA president attended at least nine games at the men’s Euro 2024 in Germany based on photos by The AP and other media.
His absence in Switzerland has drawn less attention than FIFA President Gianni Infantino spending a few days away from the month-long 2023 Women’s World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand. Infantino traveled with his family to Tahiti after attending five days of games in New Zealand.
Infantino was held to that higher standard because he criticized European broadcasters for making rights bids he said were disrespectfully low, and after attending at least some of all 64 games at the men’s World Cup in Qatar.
The FIFA leader also attended two quarterfinals last week at Euro 2025 after returning to his native Switzerland from the Club World Cup, the newly revamped global tournament for men’s club soccer, which was held in the United States. The FIFA leader posted a photo on his Instagram account from the Spain-Switzerland game on July 18.
President since 2016
Women’s soccer has never dominated a UEFA presidential election and Ceferin was re-elected unopposed twice since his first victory in 2016.
Though he pledged after his most recent win to leave office in 2027, he seems to have support from enough of UEFA’s 55 member federations to stand again.
On that election day in February 2023 in Paris, UEFA members also clarified its rules on term limits for elected officials.
Those legal changes ensured Ceferin can run one more time and stay 15 years total in a job that last year paid a UEFA salary of 3.25 million Swiss francs ($4.08 million) plus $300,000 from FIFA as one of its vice presidents.
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