Turmoil inside UEFA fueled by its president Aleksander Ceferin’s push to change statutes that would let him stay in office longer yesterday led to the exit of a senior manager.
Zvonimir Boban, a former Croatia and AC Milan great, cited his “total disapproval” for Ceferin’s move in his decision to leave his job as UEFA chief of soccer after three years.
“It is with sorrow and a heavy heart, I have no option but to leave UEFA,” Boban said in a statement. “I am not trying to be some sort of hero, especially as I am not alone in my thinking here.”
Photo: AP
Boban’s departure is the most public show of discontent with Ceferin’s leadership since the Slovenian lawyer was re-elected unopposed in April last year to extend a presidency that started in 2016.
The European soccer body supported disgraced former vice president Luis Rubiales of Spain in the furor after incidents at the FIFA Women’s World Cup final in August last year. When Rubiales eventually resigned, UEFA publicly thanked him in a statement.
UEFA then tried to bring Russia national youth teams back into European competitions, despite its own ban imposed within days of the military invasion of Ukraine. That plan was dropped within two weeks after a swath of member federations continued to insist that they would not play games against Russia.
Rifts in UEFA’s executive committee widened at a Dec. 2 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, on the sidelines of the draw for the men’s UEFA European Championship.
A proposal was made with Ceferin’s approval to amend UEFA statutes that limit presidents to 12 years in office — an anti-corruption reform passed in fallout from US and Swiss federal investigations of corruption in international soccer revealed in 2015. That scandal removed Michel Platini as UEFA president and opened a path to power for Ceferin.
The amendment would clarify that Ceferin’s first three years in office — completing Platini’s mandate through 2019 — would not count against his term limit of 12 years.
If it is approved by UEFA members at their Feb. 8 congress in Paris, Ceferin could be a candidate in 2027 and stay in his US$3 million-per-year job as president for 15 years instead of the mandated 12.
Boban was not in Hamburg when opposition to Ceferin was led by UEFA treasurer David Gill, a former Manchester United CEO.
Gill said he opposed the term-limit extension on principle even though he himself could benefit from it to stay on as an executive committee member.
Boban’s resignation letter said that he had been unable to change Ceferin’s mind.
“Despite having expressed my deepest concern and total disapproval, the UEFA president does not consider there to be any legal issues with the proposed changes, let alone any moral or ethical ones, and he intends to move forward regardless in pursuit of his personal aspirations,” Boban wrote.
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