September 13 – Former UEFA bigwig Zvonimir Boban says he does not want to succeed his one-time ally and boss Aleksander Čeferin as president of the organisation as the infamous fallout between the pair suddenly resurfaced.
Boban, previously one the most influential members of Ceferin’s inner circle, resigned in January in opposition to a change in the statutes that would let Ceferin stay in office as president longer than the current rules permit, possibly until 2031.
UEFA has a 12-year term limit for its president but Čeferin steered through an amendment approved by UEFA member federations that would not count his first three years – technically completing the mandate of predecessor Michel Platini, who was removed from office – against his 12-year limit.
Boban voiced his disapproval of the proposed amendment, accusing the Slovenian of pursuing “personal aspirations” and an autocratic agenda.
Čeferin then hit back by calling Boban a clown while his supporters suggested the Croatian’s dramatic exit from UEFA was deliberately made to one day challenge for the presidency.
But in an interview with Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport published on Thursday, the former AC Milan star denied this.
“I don’t have any interest. But a real football man in UEFA is really needed,” charged Boban, who previously had a senior role at FIFA under Gianni Infantino.
“In that sense, I say it with bitterness, having fought for changes at UEFA, like FIFA before that, I was of no use for anything.”
And in an apparent dig at the leaders of both FIFA and UEFA, he added: “These people think they’re more important than the game, than the players, than the coaches, than the fans and even the actual soccer institutions.”
Boban, who originally joined UEFA in 2021, said however that he regretted the way he fell out with Ceferin. The pair, he disclosed, have not spoken since. “I’m sorry about the way our relationship ended.”
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