UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin gave himself pay-rise during Covid pandemic, earns £1.9M

Since the release of the draconian European Super League proposal last week, newer surprising news stories continue to break out in the footballing world. The latest being that UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin reportedly received a pay rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is a look at Aleksander Ceferin salary and an update on the latest UEFA Champions League reforms.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin salary

According to reports from Calcio & Finanza, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin earned €2.19m in 2019-20, a staggering gross increase of €450,000 from the previous year. The Aleksander Ceferin salary has seen a considerable increase since 2016. In 2016, UEFA had revealed that Ceferin earned a pre-tax salary of 1.56 million Swiss francs ($1.64 million), thereby fulfilling the 2016 promise of transparency on pay for top officials.

However, it was not only the UEFA chief who received a salary hike. The report reveals that the UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis also saw his salary increase by €164,000 to a gross salary of €1.23m. Meanwhile, the Vice-president's salary is reported to have decreased by €12,500 while the wages of the members of the Executive Committee were reduced by €8,000.

UEFA Champions League reforms

The UEFA Champions League format underwent a number of changes that will come into effect from 2024 onwards with the hope that these changes will make the biggest European club competition more interesting. The biggest change in the format is that the 32-team group stage is removed. The competition is set to change to one single table with 36 teams.

The new UEFA Champions League reforms will see each team play 10 group matches rather than six before advancing to a sixteen-team knockout phase. The top eight sides will advance to the last 16 while the bottom 12 sides will be eliminated. The sides finishing between ninth and 24th will then compete in a two-legged playoff to decide the remaining places.

Teams finishing between ninth and 16th will draw against a side finishing between 17th to 24th. The winners of these matches will complete the last 16 while the losers will drop into the UEFA Europa League. However, with the European Super League status still uncertain since few teams are still left to pull out of the competition, there could be a possibility that UEFA will propose more Champions League changes.

(DISCLAIMER: The above information is sourced from various websites/ media reports. The website does not guarantee a 100% accuracy of the figures)