CARDIFF: Professor Laura McAllister is standing unopposed to join the UEFA executive committee as its designated female member at congress in Lisbon on April 5.

The passing of the deadline for nominations means this will be the first time a representative from Wales is elected to a position on European football’s governing body.

Noel Mooney, FAW Chief Executive, said: “The FAW strategy ‘Our Wales’ commits to having our voice at the top tables of European and world football. When Laura’s position on the UEFA executive committee is formally confirmed in April, we will have achieved yet another huge milestone in our strategy, with Laura becoming the first ever person from Cymru on a UEFA or FIFA Board in the history of the Football
Association of Wales.”

McAllister has been deputy chair of UEFA’s women’s football committee and is a member of the UEFA working group on gender equality.

A former Cymru captain, she won 24 caps at international level and has also been involved in senior roles in sports leadership and governance following her playing career.

McAllister said: “Welsh football is breaking through a lot of glass ceilings currently and joining the UEFA executive committee will be a tremendous achievement for the FAW and a very proud moment for me and my family.

“Once I am officially elected to the Executive Committee at the Congress in April, I will give all I have to working to improve European football and I look forward to contributing towards a bright future for football for everyone in our beautiful game. “I am very grateful to everyone who has supported me on this journey so far, and to the FAW for nominating me.”

UEFA statement:

UEFA has announced the final list of candidatures for the positions of UEFA President and UEFA Executive Committee members to be elected at the 47th Ordinary UEFA Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, on Wednesday 5 April 2023. All candidates were subject to an eligibility check carried out by an electoral committee composed of members of the UEFA Governance and Compliance Committee (in accordance with Article 21(6) of the UEFA Statutes and Article 4bis of the Regulations Governing the Implementation of the UEFA Statutes) and all of them successfully passed this eligibility check. 

a) Candidate for the UEFA presidency (for a four-year term):

	Surname	First name	Country
1.	Čeferin*	Aleksander	Slovenia

* standing for re-election

b) Candidate for one female member position on the UEFA Executive Committee (for a four-year term):

	Surname	First Name	Country
1.	McAllister	Laura	Wales

c) Candidates for seven member positions on the UEFA Executive Committee (for a four-year term) (in alphabetical order):

	Surname	First Name	Country
1.	Christensen*	Jesper Møller	Denmark
2.	Diallo	Philippe	France
3.	Duka*	Armand	Albania
4.	Fousek	Petr	Czechia
5.	Klaveness	Lise	Norway
6.	Kobiashvili	Levan	Georgia
7.	Pavelko*	Andrii	Ukraine
8.	Petrie	Rod	Scotland
9.	Quaderer	Hugo	Liechtenstein
10.	Rubiales*	Luis	Spain
11.	Vassallo	Björn	Malta

* standing for re-election

d) Candidate for one member position on the UEFA Executive Committee (for a two-year term):

	Surname	First Name	Country
1.	Watzke	Hans-Joachim	Germany

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