UEFA: one year since the election of A. Ceferin as president and the reform of the Champions League

In September 2016, Aleksander Ceferin, 48 years old at the time, was elected the president of UEFA at the 12^th Extraordinary Congress in Athens (GRE), on 14/09/2016. All 55 member federations took part in the vote, and the Slovenian collected 42 votes against 13 for Michael van Praag (NED) in the first and only round of voting.

"It is a great honour but also a great responsibility," said Aleksander Ceferin, the new president of UEFA, after the announcement of the results of the vote.

Just prior to election of the new UEFA president, the European confederation approved changes to the format of the Champions League for the 2018-2021 cycle. Notably, associations (leagues) ranked from 1 to 4 will now each receive four guaranteed places in the group stage without passing through the qualifying rounds, thus moving from 11 places (3x3+2) currently guaranteed to the top four countries to 16. Amendments to the financial distribution of monies from the Champions League to the club were also approved.

"Following an extensive consultative process involving all European football stakeholders…