The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is the governing body of football in Europe and one of FIFA's six continental confederations for association football consisting of 55 national associations. It runs national and club competitions for men and women, such as the Champions League, the Women's Champions League, the European Championship, and the Women's European Championship as well as the Nations League.
History and membership UEFA was officially inaugurated on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland, after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations. At the founding meeting, 25 members were present. However, six other associations which were not present were still recognised as founding members, bringing the total of founding associations to 31. UEFA grew to more than 50 members by the mid-1990s, as new associations were born out of the fragmentation of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia into their constituent states. UEFA's main headquarters after its foundation were located in Paris, but moved to Bern in 1960. Finally, they moved to Nyon, Switzerland, in 1995, opening the organisation's current headquarters in 1999.
Current members UEFA membership coincides for the most part with recognition as a sovereign country in Europe (48 out of 55 members are sovereign UN member states), although there are some exceptions. One UN member state (Monaco) and one UN General Assembly non-member observer state (Vatican City) are not members. Some UEFA members are not sovereign states, but form part of a larger recognised sovereign state in the context of international law. These include England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales (UK constituent countries); Gibraltar (UK overseas territory); Faroe Islands (Danish Realm); and Kosovo (state with limited recognition). In the context of these countries, sports governance tends to be carried out at the territorial level coterminous with the UEFA member entity. However, UEFA has declined membership to other polities like Jersey.
Some UEFA members are transcontinental states (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey), and others are considered part of Europe both culturally and politically (Turkey, Cyprus, and Armenia). Countries which had been members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) were also admitted to the European Football Association, such as Israel (because it had been banned from the AFC group in 1974) and Kazakhstan. Involving clubs, some UEFA member associations allow teams from outside their association's main territory to take part in their "domestic" competition, for example, AS Monaco in the French League, various Welsh clubs are in the English leagues, English-based The New Saints in the Welsh League, or Derry City, situated in Northern Ireland, plays in the Ireland-based League of Ireland.
On 28 February 2022, due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and in accordance with a recommendation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), UEFA suspended the participation of Russia. The Russian Football Union unsuccessfully appealed the UEFA ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld the ban. On 26 September 2023 the ban was lifted for the Russia U-17 team enabling them to complete in the 2024 Euro U-17 with UEFA saying "by banning children from our competitions, we not only fail to recognise and uphold a fundamental right for their holistic development but we directly discriminate against them". The lifting of the ban also applied to all teams, men and women, of underage players. This was rejected by the FAs of Ukraine, England, and Sweden, with all three threatening to boycott matches against Russia.
Executive committee The UEFA executive committee comprises the UEFA president and up to 19 other members: 16 elected by the UEFA Congress (including at least two female members), two by European Football Clubs and one by the European Leagues. All members hold the same rights and duties
President Aleksander Čeferin
Vice-presidents Armand Duka Hans-Joachim Watzke Jesper Møller Gabriele Gravina, first vice-president Laura McAllister
General secretary Theodore Theodoridis
FIFA Council – European members
Sándor Csányi, UEFA treasurer Debbie Hewitt, FIFA vice-president Pascale Van Damme Dejan Savićević Giorgos Koumas Răzvan Burleanu Bernd Neuendorf
Members
Petr Fousek Philippe Diallo Levan Kobiashvili Lise Klaveness Marijan Kustić Ari Lahti Rafael Louzán Armen Melikbekyan Frank Paauw Moshe Zuares Aivar Pohlak Claudius Schäfer, EL representative Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, EFC representative Nasser Al-Khelaifi, EFC representative David Terrier, FIFPRO Europe representative
List of UEFA office holders List of presidents of UEFA
PresidentNationalityTermEbbe Schwartz 1954–1962Gustav Wiederkehr 1962–1972Sándor Barcs 1972–1973 (acting)Artemio Franchi 1973–1983Jacques Georges 1983–1990Lennart Johansson 1990–2007Michel Platini 2007–2015Ángel María Villar 2015–2016 (acting)Aleksander Čeferin 2016–present
List of secretaries general of UEFA
Secretary generalNationalityTermHenri Delaunay 1954–1955Pierre Delaunay 1955–1960Hans Bangerter 1960–1989Gerhard Aigner 1989–1999 1999–2003Lars-Christer Olsson 2003–2007Gianni Infantino 2007David Taylor 2007–2009Gianni Infantino 2009–2016Theodore Theodoridis 2016–present
Members Code Association National teams Founded FIFAaffiliation UEFAaffiliation IOCmember ALB 1930 1932 1954 AND 1994 1996 1996 ARM 1992 1992 1992 AUT 1904 1905 1954 AZE 1992 1994 1994 BLR 1989 1992 1993 BEL 1895 1904 1954 BIH 1920 1996 1998 BUL 1923 1924 1954 CRO 1912 1941 1993 CYP 1934 1948 1962 CZE 1901 1907 1954 DEN 1889 1904 1954 ENG 1863 1905 1954 EST 1921 1923 1992 FRO 1979 1988 1990 FIN 1907 1908 1954 FRA 1919 1904 1954 GEO 1990 1992 1992 GER 1900 1904 1954 GIB 1895 2016 2013 GRE 1926 1927 1954 HUN 1901 1906 1954 ISL 1947 1947 1954 ISR 1928 1929 1994 ITA 1898 1905 1954 KAZ 1994 1994 2002 KOS 1946 2016 2016 LVA 1921 1922 1992 LIE 1934 1974 1974 LTU 1922 1923 1992 LUX 1908 1910 1954 MLT 1900 1959 1960 MDA 1990 1994 1993 MNE 1931 2007 2007 NED 1889 1904 1954 MKD 1926 1994 1994 NIR 1880 1911 1954 NOR 1902 1908 1954 POL 1919 1923 1954 POR 1914 1923 1954 IRL 1921 1923 1954 ROU 1909 1923 1954 RUS 1912 1912 1954 SMR 1931 1988 1988 SCO 1873 1910 1954 SRB 1919 1923 1954 SVK 1938 1939 1993 SVN 1920 1992 1992 ESP 1909 1904 1954 SWE 1904 1904 1954 SUI 1895 1904 1954 TUR 1923 1923 1962 UKR 1991 1992 1992 WAL 1876 1910 1954
Aspiring future members : In December 2015, an application was submitted to UEFA to allow Jersey to take part in international matches, following on from Gibraltar's admission two years earlier. In October 2016, Jersey's bid to join UEFA was rejected, but this decision was appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in June 2017. In September 2017, the CAS ordered the UEFA Congress to hear Jersey's case. In February 2018 a majority of the member associations of UEFA voted against admitting Jersey as a member.
"Special Zone" In 2014 Crimea was designated as a special zone by UEFA until further notice.
Former members Association Year Note Saarland 1954–1956 East Germany 1954–1990 Soviet Union 1954–19911992 Czechoslovakia 1954–1993 Yugoslavia FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro 1954–19921992–20032003–2006
Competitions
UEFA continental competitions
National teams: Men UEFA European Championship UEFA Nations League UEFA European Under-21 Championship UEFA European Under-19 Championship UEFA European Under-17 Championship UEFA Futsal Championship UEFA Under-19 Futsal Championship Women UEFA Women's Championship UEFA Women's Nations League UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship UEFA Women's Futsal Championship
Clubs: Men UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League UEFA Conference League UEFA Super Cup UEFA Youth League UEFA Futsal Champions League Women UEFA Women's Champions League UEFA Women's Europa Cup
Amateur: UEFA Regions' Cup
Defunct
National teams: Men UEFA Under-21 Futsal Tournament
Clubs: Men UEFA Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Intertoto Cup
Amateur: Men UEFA Amateur Cup
UEFA runs official international competitions in Europe and some countries of Northern, Southwestern and Central Asia for national teams and professional clubs, known as UEFA competitions, some of which are regarded as the world's most prestigious tournaments.
UEFA is the organiser of two of the most prestigious competitions in international football: The UEFA European Championship and the UEFA Nations League. The main competition for men's national teams is the UEFA European Championship (also known as the Euro), which started in 1958, with the first finals in 1960, and was known as the European Nations Cup until 1964. The UEFA Nations League is the second tournament of UEFA and was introduced in 2018. The tournament largely replaced the international friendly matches previously played on the FIFA International Match Calendar. It will be played every two years.
UEFA also runs national competitions at Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 levels. For women's national teams, UEFA operates the UEFA Women's Championship for senior national sides as well as Women's Under-19 and Women's Under-17 Championships.
World, Olympic and intercontinental competitions
Intercontinental national teams: CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions Women's Finalissima Futsal Finalissima Defunct UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup
Intercontinental clubs: UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge Under-20 Intercontinental Cup Defunct Intercontinental Champions' Supercup Intercontinental Cup
Beside continental European competitions for national and their junior teams, the UEFA organises various qualification male and female tournaments among European national and their junior teams for World Cups (organised by FIFA) and Olympics (organised by IOC).
UEFA also organised the UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup with CAF for youth teams in an effort to boost youth football. UEFA launched the UEFA Regions' Cup, for semi-professional teams representing their local region, in 1999. In futsal there is the UEFA Futsal Championship and UEFA Under-19 Futsal Championship. Despite the existence of UEFA's Futsal and Beach soccer committee, UEFA does not organise any beach soccer competitions. International and club beach soccer competitions for UEFA members are organised externally by Beach Soccer Worldwide.
The Italian, German, Spanish, French and Russian men's national teams are the only teams to have won the European football championship in all categories.
Club
The top-ranked UEFA competition is the UEFA Champions League, which started in 1955 as the European Champion Clubs' Cup (or simply the European Cup) and initially only gathered the top team of each country; this competition has since been expanded to gather the top 1–4 teams of each country's league (the number of teams depend on that country's ranking and can be upgraded or downgraded).
A second, lower-ranked competition is the UEFA Europa League. This competition, for national knockout cup winners and high-placed league teams, was launched by UEFA in 1971 as a successor of both the former UEFA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (also began in 1955). A third competition, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, which started in 1960, was absorbed into the UEFA Cup (now UEFA Europa League) in 1999.
In December 2018, UEFA announced the creation of a third club competition, later named the UEFA Europa Conference League. The competition features 32 teams in 8 groups of 4, with a knockout round between the second placed teams in Europa Conference League and the third placed teams in the Europa League, leading to a final 16 knockout stage featuring the eight group winners. The first edition of the competition was played in 2021–2022.