UEFA football chief Zvonimir Boban has said he will leave European football's governing body in protest against the decision of its president, Aleksandar Ceferin, to support changes to the statutes that would allow him to extend his mandate.
Boban, former AC Milan midfielder and Croatia captain, announced his decision in an open letter published by Croatian website Telesport.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)
“I am sorry and sad, but I am leaving UEFA,” Boban said in the letter.
Boban added that the reason for his departure was Ceferin's support for a proposal to change UEFA rules at its next Congress on February 8 in Paris that would allow him to stand for re-election when his four-year term ends in 2027.
UEFA rules prevent the president and members of the Executive Committee from running for public office more than three times or remaining in office for more than 12 years.
“Paradoxically, it was Ceferin who proposed and launched in 2017 the package of reforms that were supposed to protect UEFA and European football,” Boban said.
“His departure from these values and changes in the main reforms are difficult to understand, especially at this delicate moment in football.
“If I were to accept such a difficult and wrong decision and turn my head, I would be going against the general principles and values in which I deeply believe.
“I am not playing any hero and I know very well that many have the same opinion: perhaps naive, but certainly correct.”
Ceferin was re-elected UEFA president without opposition at the governing body's Ordinary Congress held in Lisbon in April last year.
