Who are UEFA’s top executives: Čeferin, Rubiales, Karl-Erik Nilsson...?
In September 2016, Čeferin was elected as the seventh President of UEFA at the 12th Extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens.
With European domestic competitions underway after a quicker than usual summer, the UEFA Champions League will be back on our televisions in a couple of weeks.
Europe’s elite competition provided some incredible drama in 2021-22 and we can look forward to more over the coming months as Real Madrid aim to retain their title.
Follow the Champions League group stage draw live
UEFA’s top executives
Aleksander Čeferin
Aleksander Čeferin is a Slovenian lawyer and football administrator. He was born in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, on 13 October 1967. Between 2011 and 2016, Čeferin was president of the Football Association of Slovenia (NZS) and has served as President of European football’s governing body, UEFA, since his election on 14 September 2016.
After graduating from Ljubljana University’s law faculty, Aleksander Čeferin worked for his family’s law firm, developing a special interest in representing professional athletes and sports clubs. He later succeeded his father as company director.
On 14 September 2016, Čeferin was elected as the seventh President of UEFA at the 12th Extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens, automatically becoming a vice-president of the world football body, FIFA.
Luis Rubiales
Luis Manuel Rubiales Bejar was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, but soon after moved to Granada. In 1991 he made his debut with the local team, Motril CF, and remained with the club until the 1994-95 season, when he joined Valencia. The following year, he was called up to the Spanish U-18 national team. He later played for Amorós, a third division team, as well as Lleida, Xerez and Levante, before completing his career with Alicante and Scottish side Hamilton.
After his career, he graduated in law and studied sports management. He was president of the Spanish Footballers’ Association from March 2010 until his candidacy for the presidency of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), where he has been a member of the board of directors for six years.
Rubiales was elected president of the RFEF on 17 May 2018. He was elected as a member of the UEFA Executive Committee at the UEFA Ordinary Congress in Rome in February 2019. Rubiales was elected UEFA vice-president in May 2019.
Karl-Erik Nilsson
Karl-Erik Nilsson was a teacher before going into politics. He served as mayor of his hometown, Emmaboda in Sweden, from 1995 until 2006, when he left active politics. His first post in football administration was at local club Lindås BK. In the 1980s, Nilsson started out as a referee and went on to officiate in the UEFA Champions League and at various FIFA and UEFA competitions.
Nilsson was elected Swedish Football Association (SvFF) president in March 2012. Before that, he was a member of the SvFF board, as well as president of the Bohuslan regional association, and also served on the board of IK Oddevold, a club in his new home town Uddevalla. He was tournament director at the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship and had several other UEFA assignments, working as a referee observer. In April 2017, Nilsson was elected to the UEFA Executive Committee at the Helsinki Congress, and became UEFA first vice-president.
Champions League Group Stage draw
The draw for the Group Stage of the Champions League was completed on Thursday evening in Istanbul, with the following Groups being drawn.
Champions League Groups:
Group A: Ajax, Liverpool, Napoli, Rangers
Group B: Porto, At. Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Brugge
Group C: Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter, Viktoria Plzen
Group D: Eintracht Frankfurt, Spurs, Sporting CP, Marseille
Group E: Milan, Chelsea, Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb
Group F: Real Madrid, RB Leipzig, Shakhtar, Celtic
Group G: Man City, Sevilla, Dortmund, Copenhagen
Group H: PSG, Juventus, Benfica, Maccabi Hafia