UEFA

Established

June 15, 1954 in Basel (Switzerland)

Address

Chemin de la route-46, CH-1260 Nyon, Switzerland

Telephone

00/41/22/361.82.84. Fax: 00/41/22/361.82.84

Internet address

www.uefa.com

President

Lennart Johansson (Sweden)

UEFA Chief Lars Christer Olsson holds the UEFA Champions League Cup during a ceremony in Gelsenkirchen 15 April 2004. The Champion's League Cup final will take place in at the Arena Auf Schalke in Gelsenkirchen 26 May 2004. AFP PHOTO DDP/TORSTEN SILZ GERMANY OUT

Director general

Lars-Christer Olsson (Sweden)

Consecutive presidents

Ebbe Schwartz (Den, 1954-62), Gustav Wiederkehr (Swi, 1962-72), Artemio Franchi (Ita, 1973-1983), Jacques Georges (Fra, 1984-1990), Lennart Johansson (Swe, since 1990)

General secretaries

Henri Delaunay (Fra/1954-55), Pierre Delaunay (Fra/1956-59), Hans Bangerter (Swi/1960-88), Gerhard Aigner (Ger/1989-May 2003), Christer Olsson (Swe/since May 2003)

Members (51 countries)

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaidjan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Faroe Isles, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, San-Marino, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales, Yugoslavia.

UEFA was created in the Swiss city of Basel on June 15, 1954 and forms part of the the six continental confederations which are administered by the International Football Federation, FIFA.

Due to the number of national associations which fall under UEFA's auspices, and through its financial pulling power, UEFA enjoys relevant influence and plays a major role on the world football stage.

More than a hundred people are currently employed within the organisation, whose headquarters since 1995 can be found in Nyon (Switzerland), in the Geneva suburbs, after initially being based in Berne.

UEFA's mission is mainly to organise and administer competitions between clubs (Champions League, UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup) and countries (European championships, Under-21 and Under-18 European championships, Women's European championships) within Europe. All this constitutes around 1000 matches per season.

UEFA's current president is the Swede Lennart Johansson, who succeeded France's Jacques Georges in 1990. Germany's Gerhard Aigner occupied another important position of power within the organisation, that of director general but stepped down in May, 2003 and was replaced by another Swede Christer Olsson.