UEFA are facing further boardroom turmoil this week. Chief of football Zvonimir Boban has resigned in protest against plans by president Aleksander Ceferin to extend his leadership beyond the agreed initial limit.
Ceferin was elected in 2016 to take over from Michael Platini and implemented a three-term cap on all executive appointments. His own rules would therefore see the UEFA president step down in 2027, but his supporters are reportedly planning a change that would enable him to remain in-post until 2031.
Boban, who represented Dinamo Zagreb and AC Milan as a player, called the plan “fatal”.
In an open letter published in the Croatian news outlet Telegram, he said: “I talked to UEFA’s president about a problem… the proposal to change Uefa’s statute in order to enable Ceferin’s new candidacy after his final mandate runs out.
“After expressing my deepest concern and complete disagreement with the proposal itself, the president answered that he sees no legal or moral-ethical problem in it – and that he will, without any doubt, proceed with this idea that I find fatal.”
Ceferin’s presidency began mid-way through Platini’s term when the Frenchman was barred from football for ethical violations. His supporters therefore argue he will not have completed three terms by 2027, undoing Ceferin’s own initiative of a strict limit.
“The reforms were to football's great credit, and that of the UEFA president,” Boban continued. “His shift away from these values is beyond comprehension.
“During the past three years, my relationship and collaboration with the UEFA president, and all my colleagues at UEFA, has been excellent. I am thankful for this, and I wish them all the best. It is with sorrow, and a heavy heart, I have no option but to leave UEFA.”
Boban began his senior playing career with Dinamo Zagreb and shot to fame after kicking a police officer in the face for assaulting a Dinamo supporter during a riot at a game v Red Star Belgrade. Boban became a Croatian nationalist icon as a result and was suspended from the Yugoslavia team for the 1990 World Cup.
He joined AC Milan in 1991 and retired in 2002 having won four Serie A titles. He was Deputy Secretary-General at FIFA and Milan before taking on the role at UEFA.
A UEFA statement read: “UEFA wishes to announce the departure of Zvonimir Boban from the organisation by mutual agreement. Boban joined the organisation in 2021 as the chief of football and initiated several significant projects in technical development, including the establishment of the Uefa football board and the youth football forum.”
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