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For Europe’s Soccer Chief, the Outrage Arrives in Waves

Andreas Solaro/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

BUDAPEST — Facing a floor-to-ceiling window that offered sweeping views of the Danube, the river that flows through 10 European countries, Aleksander Ceferin paused for a moment to consider his words.

Ceferin, a Slovenian lawyer elected in February to a second term as the leader of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, has become accustomed to carefully tempering his comments, to steering clear of trouble in whatever he chooses to say publicly, but this month he knows his every word will be parsed even more than usual.

In the past week alone, UEFA has found itself fighting fires on three fronts.