The UEFA Congress (, ) is the supreme controlling organ of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). UEFA is the administrative body for association football and futsal in Europe, and is one of six continental confederations of world football's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). UEFA consists of 55 member associations.
The congresses may be ordinary or extraordinary. Ordinary congresses meet annually, typically between February and May. An extraordinary congress may be convened by the UEFA Executive Committee, or at the written request of one fifth or more of the UEFA member associations, to deal with financial matters and/or matters of particular significance. Each of the 55 members of UEFA has one vote in the congress. The members of UEFA are responsible for electing the UEFA president and the members of the UEFA Executive Committee.
The most recent edition, the 50th Ordinary UEFA Congress, was held on 12 February 2026 in Brussels, Belgium. The next congress is scheduled to be held on 4 March 2027 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
History UEFA was founded on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland, and began with 31 members. The first congress was held the following year, on 2 March 1955 in Vienna, Austria. Until 1968, the meetings were known as general assemblies. The first extraordinary congress was held on 11 December 1959 in Paris, France. The most recent extraordinary congress was held on 20 September 2017 in Zurich, the 13th to take place. The ordinary congress was initially held annually up until 1958, when the delegates decided to amend the UEFA Statutes so the congress would follow a biennial schedule. Starting in 2003, the congress returned to an annual meeting, which was decided at the congress in 2002, mainly to facilitate the financial management of UEFA. On three occasions, two congress—an ordinary and extraordinary—have been held in the same year (in 1968, 2007 and 2017), while 2016 was the only year to see three congresses take place, due to two extraordinary meetings being held. The congress is typically held on a single day, though four congresses were held over two consecutive days: in 2000, 2004, 2007 and 2009.
All congresses have been held within a UEFA member association, except for the 4th Extraordinary UEFA Congress, which took place in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Italy has hosted both the most overall and ordinary congresses with seven, all taking placing in Rome, of which five were ordinary and two extraordinary. Switzerland has hosted the most extraordinary congresses with five, though Rome is tied with Geneva and Zurich for the most extraordinary congresses by city with two. Four cities have held both an ordinary and extraordinary congress: Helsinki, London, Paris and Rome. As of 2026, the 50 ordinary congresses have been held in 33 cities, while the 13 extraordinary congresses have been held in 10 cities, for a total of 63 congresses in 38 cities.
Responsibilities The following matters are within the power of the UEFA Congress:
receipt and consideration of the annual report, financial report and the auditors' report approval of the annual accounts and budget election of the UEFA president election of UEFA Executive Committee members ratification of the Executive Committee members elected by the European Football Clubs and European Leagues election of the European members of the FIFA Council election of the auditing body amendments to the UEFA Statutes addition or removal of a member association decisions on the lifting or continuation of the suspension of a member association, UEFA Executive Committee member or a member of another body bestowal of honorary presidency or membership
List of congresses
Ordinary Number Date(s) City 1 (I) * 2 March 1955 Vienna 2 (II) 8 June 1956 Lisbon 3 (III) 28 June 1957 Copenhagen 4 (IV) * 4 June 1958 Stockholm 5 (V) 21 August 1960 Rome 6 (VI) * 17 April 1962 Sofia 7 (VII) 17 June 1964 Madrid 8 (VIII) * 6 July 1966 London 9 (IX) 7 June 1968 Rome 10 (X) * 8 May 1970 Dubrovnik 11 (XI) 7 June 1972 Vienna 12 (XII) * 22 May 1974 Edinburgh 13 (XIII) 15 June 1976 Stockholm 14 (XIV) * 22 April 1978 Istanbul 15 (XV) 21 June 1980 Rome 16 (XVI) * 28 April 1982 Dresden 17 (XVII) * 26 June 1984 Paris 18 (XVIII) * 24 April 1986 Cascais 19 (XIX) 24 June 1988 Munich 20 (XX) * 19 April 1990 St. Julian's 21 (XXI) 25 June 1992 Gothenburg 22 (XXII) * 28 April 1994 Vienna 23 (XXIII) 29 June 1996 London 24 (XXIV) * 30 April 1998 Dublin 25 (XXV) 30 June – 1 July 2000 Luxembourg City 26 (XXVI) * 25 April 2002 Stockholm 27 (XXVII) 27 March 2003 Rome 28 (XXVIII) 22–23 April 2004 Limassol 29 (XXIX) 21 April 2005 Tallinn 30 (XXX) 23 March 2006 Budapest 31 (XXXI) * 25–26 January 2007 Düsseldorf 32 (XXXII) 31 January 2008 Zagreb 33 (XXXIII) 25–26 March 2009 Copenhagen 34 (XXXIV) 25 March 2010 Tel Aviv 35 (XXXV) * 22 March 2011 Paris 36 (XXXVI) 22 March 2012 Istanbul 37 (XXXVII) 24 May 2013 London 38 (XXXVIII) 27 March 2014 Astana 39 (XXXIX) * 24 March 2015 Vienna 40 (XL) 3 May 2016 Budapest 41 (XLI) 5 April 2017 Helsinki 42 (XLII) 26 February 2018 Bratislava 43 (XLIII) * 7 February 2019 Rome 44 (XLIV) 3 March 2020 Amsterdam 45 (XLV) 20 April 2021 Montreux 46 (XLVI) 11 May 2022 Vienna 47 (XLVII) * 5 April 2023 Lisbon 48 (XLVIII) 8 February 2024 Paris 49 (XLIX) 3 April 2025 Belgrade 50 (L) 12 February 2026 Brussels51 (LI) * 22 April 2027 Astana
Extraordinary Number Date City 1 (I) 11 December 1959 Paris 2 (II) 27 September 1961 London 3 (III) 7 June 1968 Rome 4 (IV) 16 June 1971 Monte Carlo 5 (V) * 15 March 1973 Rome 6 (VI) 19 September 1991 Montreux 7 (VII) 17 June 1993 Geneva 8 (VIII) 24 September 1997 Helsinki 9 (IX) 11 October 2001 Prague 10 (X) 28 May 2007 Zurich 11 (XI) 25 February 2016 Zurich 12 (XII) * 14 September 2016 Athens 13 (XIII) 20 September 2017 Geneva
See also List of presidents of UEFA FIFA Congress
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