UEFA

Template:Short description Template:Pp-vandalism Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox organization

Template:FIFA confederations The **Union of European Football Associations** (**UEFA**; Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Template:Lang-fr;Template:Efn Template:Lang-de)Template:Efn is the administrative body for football, futsal and beach soccer in Europe. It is one of six continental confederations of world football's governing body FIFA. UEFA consists of 55 national association members.

UEFA represents the national football associations of Europe, runs nation and club competitions including the UEFA European Championship, UEFA Nations League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, planned UEFA Europa Conference League, and UEFA Super Cup, and controls the prize money, regulations, and media rights to those competitions.

Henri Delaunay was the first general secretary and Ebbe Schwartz the first president. The current president is Aleksander Čeferin, a former Football Association of Slovenia president, who was elected as UEFA's seventh president at the 12th Extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens in September 2016, and automatically became a vice-president of the world body FIFA.

## History and membership

Template:Unreferenced section

 File:Siège UEFA Nyon (Suisse).JPG  UEFA was founded 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, 6 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.

Until 1959 the main headquarters were located in Paris, and later in Bern. In 1995, UEFA headquarters were transferred to Nyon, Switzerland.

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 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 Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales (countries of the United Kingdom), Gibraltar (British Overseas Territory), the Faroe Islands (constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark), and Kosovo (state with limited recognition), however in the context of these countries government functions concerning sport tend to be carried at the territorial level coterminous with the UEFA member entity.

Some UEFA members are transcontinental states (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey) and others are considered part of Europe both culturally and politically (Armenia and Cyprus). Countries which had been members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) were also admitted to the European football association, particularly Israel (because it had been banned from the AFC group in 1974) and Kazakhstan.

AdditionallyTemplate:Why some UEFA member associations allow teams from outside their association's main territory to take part in their "domestic" competition. AS Monaco, for example, takes part in the French League (though a separate sovereign entity); Welsh clubs Cardiff City, Swansea City and Newport County A.F.C. participate in the English League; Derry City, situated in Northern Ireland, plays in the Republic of Ireland-based League of Ireland and the 7 native Liechtenstein teams play in the Swiss Leagues, as Liechtenstein has no internal league  and only a cup competition.

National teams represented by UEFA are known for being successful throughout the history of the FIFA World Cup. Out of 21 tournaments so far, European teams have won 12 World Cup titles. Italy and Germany have four titles each, followed by France with two titles and England and Spain, winning once each. The national associations of these countries also are responsible for organizing the so-called "Big Five European Leagues", consisting of Spain's La Liga, England's Premier League, Germany's Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A and France's Ligue 1.

## Executive committee

Template:Col-start Template:Col-break **President**

* Template:Country data SVN Aleksander Čeferin

**Vice-presidents**

* Karl-Erik Nilsson – First Vice-President
* Zbigniew Boniek
* Sándor Csányi
* Fernando Gomes
* Luis Rubiales
* David Gill

**Members**

* Template:Country data ALB Armand Duka
* Alexander Dyukov
* Gabriele Gravina
* Florence Hardouin
* Rainer Koch
* Jesper Møller
* Andriy Pavelko
* Just Spee
* Davor Šuker
* Servet Yardımcı
* Template:Country data DEU Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
* Template:Country data QAT Nasser Al-Khelaifi
* Template:Country data SPA Javier Tebas

Template:Col-break **General secretary**

* Template:Country data GRE Theodore Theodoridis

**Deputy general secretary**

* Giorgio Marchetti

**Treasurer**

* Template:Country data England David Gill

**Head of club competitions**

* Michael Heselschwerdt

**Head of national competitions**

* Lance Kelly

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## Members

Notes
Template:Reflist

### Former members

* File:Flag of Saar (1947–1956).svg Saarland Football Union (1954–1956), joined Football Association of West Germany
* Template:Country data East Germany Football Association of East Germany (1954–1990), joined Football Association of West Germany as German Football Association
* Template:Country data Soviet Union Football Federation of the Soviet Union (1954–1991); in 1992 the Soviet Union was dissolved into 15 republics (10 in Europe and 5 in Asia) with the Russian Football Union being acknowledged as the direct successor of the Football Federation of the Soviet Union; in spring and summer of 1992 it was represented by teams of the Commonwealth of Independent States
* Template:Country data Yugoslavia Football Association of Yugoslavia (1954–1992); in 1992 Yugoslavia collapsed, with various federal republics becoming independent states, leaving only Serbia and Montenegro as part of FR Yugoslavia (which was renamed the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003); the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro was acknowledged as the direct successor of Football Association of Yugoslavia. Four other successor republics formed their own football organisations.
* Template:Country data Serbia and Montenegro Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro (1992–2006); in 2006 the union state was dissolved with the Football Association of Serbia becoming its successor. Montenegro, which exited the union, created the Football Association of Montenegro. It competed as FR Yugoslavia until 2003 when the country changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro.
* Template:Country data Czechoslovakia Football Association of Czechoslovakia (1954–1993), became Football Association of the Czech Republic and Slovak Football Association with the Football Association of the Czech Republic acknowledged as its direct successor.

### Non-members

There are several national teams within Europe that are not members of UEFA. Many of them are instead affiliated with CONIFA.

* There are two independent European states that have national teams that are not affiliated with UEFA or FIFA. Both are microstates.
	+ Template:Country data Monaco
	+ Template:Country data Vatican
* The constituent countries of the Template:Country data United Kingdom (Template:Country data England, Template:Country data Northern Ireland, Template:Country data Scotland, and Template:Country data Wales) all have separate UEFA teams. The Crown dependencies, which are not technically part of the United Kingdom, have official teams not affiliated with UEFA or FIFA
	+ Template:Country data Guernsey
	+ Template:Country data Isle of Man
	+ Template:Country data Jersey, whose membership application was rejected by UEFA in 2018
* Although one of the autonomous territories of the Kingdom of Denmark has its own UEFA membership (Template:Country data Faroe Islands), the other does not.
	+ Template:Country data Greenland, which is expected to apply for membership to UEFA and FIFA in the near future. It could also join CONCACAF.
* Several European states with limited recognition have official national teams, but none have been considered for UEFA membership.
	+ Template:Country data Abkhazia
	+ Template:Country data Northern Cyprus
	+ Template:Country data South Ossetia
	+ Template:Country data Transnistria

### UEFA continental competitions

Template:Col-start Template:Col-break **National teams:**

* UEFA European Championship
* UEFA Nations League
* UEFA European Under-21 Championship
* UEFA European Under-19 Championship
* UEFA European Under-17 Championship
* UEFA Women's Championship
* UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship
* UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship
* UEFA Futsal Championship
* UEFA Under-19 Futsal Championship
* UEFA Women's Futsal Championship

Template:Col-break **Clubs:**

* UEFA Champions League
* UEFA Europa League
* UEFA Europa Conference League
* UEFA Super Cup
* UEFA Youth League
* UEFA Women's Champions League
* UEFA Futsal Champions League

**Defunct**

* UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
* UEFA Intertoto Cup

Template:Col-break **Intercontinental:**

**Defunct**

* Intercontinental Champions' Supercup
* Intercontinental Cup
* UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup

Template:Col-break **Amateur:**

* UEFA Regions' Cup

**Defunct**

* UEFA Amateur Cup

Template:Col-end

Main article: UEFA competitions
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), started in 1958, with the first finals in 1960, and 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, Intercontinental competitions

Beside continental European competitions for national and their junior teams, the UEFA organizes various qualification male and female tournaments among European national and their junior teams for World Cups (organized by FIFA) and Olympics (organized 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

Template:Main article

 File:UEFA Members 2016.svg  The top-ranked UEFA competition is the UEFA Champions League, which started in the 1992/93 season and gathers 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); this competition was re-structured from a previous one that only gathered the top team of each country (held from 1955 to 1992 and known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or simply the European Cup).

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 begun in 1955). A third competition, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, which had 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, with a working title of **Europa League 2 (UEL2)** (The name was later decided as UEFA Europa Conference League) . The competition would feature 32 teams directly in 8 groups of 4, with a knockout round between the second placed teams in UEFA Europa Conference League and the third placed teams in the Europa League, leading to a final 16 knockout stage featuring the eight group winners. UEFA announced that the first edition of the competition begins in 2021.

In women's football UEFA also conducts the UEFA Women's Champions League for club teams. The competition was first held in 2001, and known as the UEFA Women's Cup until 2009.

The UEFA Super Cup pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the Europa League (previously the winners of the Cup Winners' Cup), and came into being in 1973.

The UEFA Intertoto Cup was a summer competition, previously operated by several Central European football associations, which was relaunched and recognised as official UEFA club competition by UEFA in 1995. The last Intertoto Cup took place in 2008.

The European/South American Cup was jointly organised with CONMEBOL between the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores winners.

Only five teams (Juventus, Ajax, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Chelsea) have won each of the three main competitions (European Cup/UEFA Champions League, European Cup Winners' Cup/UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League), a feat that is no longer possible for any team that did not win the Cup Winners' Cup. There are currently eight teams throughout Europe that have won two of the three trophies; all but one have won the Cup Winners' Cup, four require a win in the Champions League and four require a UEFA Europa League win.

Juventus of Italy was the first team in Europe—remaining the only one to date (2021)—to win all UEFA's official championships and cups and, in commemoration of achieving that feat, have received *The UEFA Plaque* by the Union of European Football Associations on 12 July 1988.

UEFA's premier futsal competition is the UEFA Futsal Cup, a tournament started in 2001 which replaced the former Futsal European Clubs Championship. This event, despite enjoying a long and well-established tradition in the European futsal community, dating back to 1984, was never recognised as official by UEFA.

### Titles by nation

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## Sponsors

UEFA national team competitions

Template:Col-start Template:Col-break

* Alipay
* Booking.com
* FedEx

Template:Col-break

* Gazprom
* Hisense
* Volkswagen

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UEFA Champions League

Template:Col-start Template:Col-break

* Banco Santander
* Expedia Group
	+ Hotels.com
	+ Expedia
* Gazprom
* Heineken

Template:Col-break

* MasterCard
* Nissan
* Sony/PlayStation
* PepsiCo
	+ Pepsi & Pepsi Max
	+ Lay's/Walkers

Template:Col-end **Note:** The UEFA Champions League sponsors are also sponsors of the UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Youth League.

UEFA Europa League

Template:Col-start Template:Col-break

* Enterprise
* FedEx
* Heineken

Template:Col-break

* Hankook
* Kia Motors

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UEFA women's football competitions

Template:Col-start Template:Col-break

* Lay's
* Hublot

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* Nike
* Visa

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## FIFA world rankings

**Highest Ranked UEFA memberin the men's FIFA World Rankings**Template:FIFA World Ranking leaders (UEFA)
* *Last updates:*
	+ Men's national teams – 19 December 2019
	+ Women's national teams – 12 July 2019

* \* – Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked.

## Major tournament records

**Legend**

* **Template:Bg** – Champions
* **Template:Bg** – Runners-up
* **Template:Bg** – Third place
* **Template:Bg** – Fourth place
* **QF** – Quarterfinals
* **R16** – Round of 16 (since 1986: knockout round of 16)
* **R2** – Second round (for the 1974, 1978, and 1982 tournaments, which had two group stages)
* **R1** – Group stage (in the 1950, 1974, 1978, and 1982 tournaments, which had two group stages, this refers to the first group stage)
* **1S** – First Knockout Stage (1934–1938 Single-elimination tournament)
* Template:Border – Did not qualify
* Template:Border – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
* Template:Border – Hosts

For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

### FIFA World Cup

Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup
See also: European nations at the FIFA World Cup
**Notes** Template:Reflist

### FIFA Women's World Cup

Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA Women's World Cup

### Olympic Games For Men

See also: Football at the Summer Olympics § Participating nations
**Notes** Template:Reflist

### Olympic Games For Women

See also: Football at the Summer Olympics § Participating nations 2

### UEFA European Championship

Main article: National team appearances in the UEFA European Championship
**Notes** Template:Notelist

### UEFA Women's Championship

See also: UEFA Women's Championship § Participation details

### FIFA U-20 World Cup

Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA U-20 World Cup

### FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

See also: FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup § Comprehensive team results in each World Cup
**Notes** Template:Notelist

### FIFA U-17 World Cup

Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA U-17 World Cup

### FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

See also: FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup § Comprehensive team results in each World Cup

### FIFA Futsal World Cup

Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA Futsal World Cup

### FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

### Former tournaments

#### FIFA Confederations Cup

Template:Main article

See also: National team appearances in the FIFA Confederations Cup

## Sanctions

### Against associations

* Template:Country data Lithuania Lithuania, in 1990 sanctions were imposed due to the secession of the Lithuanian Football Federation from the Football Federation of the Soviet Union
* Template:Country data FR Yugoslavia FR Yugoslavia, in 1992–1998 sanctions were imposed due to the Bosnian War (as part of the Yugoslav Wars)

### Against clubs

* Albania, in 1967 special sanctions were imposed against 1966–67 Albanian Superliga due to its political background
* Template:Country data England England, in 1985–1991 sanctions were imposed against English association football clubs due to the Heysel Stadium disaster by suspending their participation in continental competitions for five years
* Template:Country data Italy Italy, in 1974–1975 sanctions were imposed against SS Lazio due to its fans, Italy was restricted from the European Cup to which Lazio qualified
* Template:Country data Netherlands Netherlands, in 1990–1991 sanctions were imposed against AFC Ajax due to its fans, the Netherlands were restricted from the European Cup to which Ajax qualified

## Corruption and controversy

Dissatisfied fans across Europe have referred to the organisation as *UEFA mafia*, including in Russia's top league, in Bulgaria's top league, and in a Champions League group stage match held in Sweden. The term has also been covered for its use outside of stadiums, for example during a protest in Kosovo outside an EU building following the Serbia v Albania (UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying) match.

Following the 2015 FIFA corruption case, the then-president of UEFA, Michel Platini, was also involved in the case. Swiss prosecutors accused FIFA president Sepp Blatter of making a "disloyal payment" of $2m (£1.6m) to Mr Platini. Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber, stated: "We didn't interview Mr Platini as a witness, that's not true. We investigated against him in between as a witness and an accused person". Both Platini and Sepp Blatter were banned from football-related activity. Platini appealed to Court of Arbitration for Sports, which lowered the six-year ban to four years. He further appealed to Swiss courts and the European Court of Human Rights but the courts rejected his appeals.

In 2019 UEFA's decision to host Europa League Cup final in Baku, Azerbaijan left one of the finalists, Arsenal, with a decision to withdraw their Armenian player Henrikh Mkhitaryan out of the competition due to safety concerns., and there has been long-standing debates about the extent to which the elite clubs or UEFA itself should exert the most influence on the game.

## See also

### Resolutions

Template:Col-start Template:Col-break **Awards:**

* UEFA Club Football Awards
* UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award
* UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award
* UEFA President's Award
* UEFA Team of the Year
* UEFA Jubilee Awards
* UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll
* UEFA Euro Teams of the Tournament
* UEFA EqualGame Award

Template:Col-break **Qualifications:**

* UEFA coefficient
* UEFA Fair Play ranking
* UEFA stadium categories

Template:Col-break **Match:**

* UEFA Celebration Match

Template:Col-end

### Related links

* Timeline of football
* List of association football competitions
* International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)
* Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
* Confederation of African Football (CAF)
* Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF)
* Confederation of South American Football (CONMEBOL)
* Oceania Football Confederation (OFC)

## External links

Template:Commons category

* Template:Official website Template:In lang
* Union of European Football Association, Soccerlens.com. Retrieved: 9 October 2010.

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1. ↑ uefa.com. President – About UEFA – Inside UEFA.
2. ↑ Template:Cite news
3. ↑ Vieli, André (2014). UEFA: 60 years at the heart of football. Union of European Football Associations.
4. ↑ UEFA: Why some clubs are allowed to participate in competitions outside of their territory? https://us.bolavip.com
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Template:Cite news
6. ↑ Florence Hardouin. UEFA (18 June 2016).
7. ↑ FIFA.com. Football Confederations - UEFA - FIFA.com.
8. ↑ Jersey: Uefa congress rejects application to become international football nation. BBC (26 February 2018).
9. ↑ Template:Cite news
10. ↑ Including results of the Soviet Union
11. ↑ Europa League 2 to begin in 2021, from BBCSport.co.uk
12. ↑ History of the UEFA Super Cup. *uefa.com*.
13. ↑ 1973: Ajax enjoy early success. *uefa.com*.
14. ↑ uefa.com – UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. *uefa.com*.
15. ↑ History of the UEFA Intertoto Cup. *uefa.com*.
16. ↑ History of the UEFA/CONMEBOL Intercontinental Cup. *uefa.com*.
17. ↑ Un dilema histórico (es). *El Mundo Deportivo's Historical Archive*.
18. ↑ Edición del $dateTool.format('EEEE d MMMM yyyy', $document.date), Página $document.page - Hemeroteca - MundoDeportivo.com.
19. ↑ Chelsea qualified for Europa League's Round of 32 after finished in third place in the group stage of the 2012–13 Champions League.
20. ↑ The man with the golden touch. *uefa.com*.
21. ↑ List of European official clubs' cups and tournaments. *uefa.com*.
22. ↑ Template:Cite news
23. ↑ Tutto inizio' con un po' di poesia. *gazzetta.it*.
24. ↑ Gazprom partners with UEFA. *UEFA.com* (19 May 2021).
25. ↑ Hisense signs as UEFA EURO 2016 global sponsor. *UEFA.com* (14 January 2016).
26. ↑ Volkswagen becomes new UEFA national team football competitions partner. *UEFA.com* (9 August 2017).
27. ↑ Template:Cite press release
28. ↑ Template:Cite press release
29. ↑ FedEx to be main UEFA Europa League sponsor. *UEFA.com* (15 May 2015).
30. ↑ Template:Cite press release
31. ↑ Hankook to sponsor of UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE. *UEFA.com* (10 July 2012).
32. ↑ The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Ranking Table - European Zone - FIFA.com. *FIFA.com*.
33. ↑ The FIFA Women's World Ranking - European Zone - FIFA.com. *FIFA.com*.
34. ↑ *Kazakhstan* represented AFC before 2000.
35. ↑ Inter Milan v Napoli as it happened. *BBC Sport* (19 October 2014).
36. ↑ Why Uefa and Bulgaria must act over 'yes to racism' banner. *The Guardian* (7 October 2014).
37. ↑ Malmo fans sing 'UEFA Mafia' chant during Champions League defeat to Juventus. *Eurosport* (27 November 2014).
38. ↑ Kosovo Albanians protest UEFA ruling; Serbia FM and Serbian FA reaction (24 October 2014).
39. ↑ Fifa scandal: Michel Platini drawn closer to Blatter case. bbc.com (30 September 2015).
40. ↑ Platini says the SFr2m was contracted, Lauber says he is under investigation. insideworldfootball.com (30 September 2015).
41. ↑ Template:Cite news
42. ↑ Henrikh Mkhitaryan to miss Europa League final (en).
43. ↑ Template:Cite journal

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