The resignation of a top official reveals tensions in European football

Zvonimir Boban, a top aide and longtime confidant of the powerful president of European soccer's governing body, resigned abruptly on Wednesday, a departure that exposed a deep rift within the leadership of one of the world's richest sporting organizations.

Mr Boban's sudden departure from the governing body UEFA, which oversees football in 55 countries and organizes billion-dollar competitions such as the Champions League and European Championship, was a sign of growing unrest among some of the continent's football leaders about attempts to significantly change the organizational structure. regulations.

One of the most controversial revisions currently being considered would allow UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin of Slovenia to continue in his role after a 12-year term imposed as part of a series of reforms implemented after a corruption scandal that rocked international football for almost a decade. past.

“Despite expressing my deepest concerns and total disapproval, the President of UEFA believes that there are no legal issues with the proposed changes, let alone moral or ethical issues, and he intends to move forward, regardless of his personal ambitions. Mr. Boban said in a lengthy statement to The New York Times.

Mr Boban's departure from his role as UEFA's first director of football, a position created for him in 2021, raised tensions among some of European football's top leaders. These concerns have persisted since a board meeting in Hamburg, Germany, in December, when the suggestion to adjust senior leadership terms was first proposed.

News media reports At the time, David Gill, a long-time English football manager, publicly questioned the need for the changes. He pointed out that the shift essentially exempts from term limits any time served on the executive committee before July 2017. This could potentially allow a figure like Mr Gill to remain in office for 20 years, which he said would at the very least be contrary to the spirit of the original governance reforms. Mr Ceferin, a lawyer, was first elected president of UEFA in 2016.

UEFA rejected concerns about the changes in a statement, saying: “The proposed change is simply to clarify the position set out in the statutes regarding the maintenance of the accepted legal principle that retroactivity should not apply.” UEFA and Mr Ceferin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the circumstances surrounding Mr Boban's departure.

Mr Boban, 55, is widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, a Champions League winner with AC Milan and a key player in the Croatian team that finished third in the inaugural 1998 World Cup. years after the country became independent.

After retiring as a player, he held managerial positions at FIFA and his former club in Milan before joining UEFA, where he held an outsized role due to his proximity and close personal friendship with Mr Ceferin.

He was at the president's side in 2021 when news broke that a group of elite clubs were trying to create a breakaway super league that threatened to blow up the decades-old European football model, and he worked closely with Mr. Ceferin to help to achieve victory. that threat. But Mr. Boban is also known for being outspoken: he came before aimed at his former employer, FIFA, and his former boss there, Gianni Infantino, after his departure in 2019.

Mr Boban said he now had “no choice but to leave UEFA.” On Wednesday he informed Mr Ceferin of his decision to quit.

The 56-year-old Ceferin, former head of the Slovenian Football Federation, was largely unknown when he was elected UEFA president in September 2016. Since then, he has become one of the sport's most dominant leaders, controlling an organization that generates more money than any international body through the Champions League, the sport's top club competition, which generates nearly $4 billion in annual revenue. It also hosts the quadrennial European Championship, the second largest national team event after the World Cup.

Ceferin's sudden rise was accompanied by moves to curb executive power in football following a corruption scandal, something Boban, one of his closest allies, noted in his statement.

“Ironically, it was the UEFA president himself who proposed and launched a series of reforms in 2017 that were introduced to prevent such a possibility,” Mr Boban said. “These rules were intended to protect UEFA and European football from the 'bad governance' that had unfortunately been the 'modus operandi' of what is often referred to as the 'old system' of football governance for many years.

“The reforms were a great honor to football, including that of the President of UEFA. His shift from these values ​​is beyond our understanding.”

To be part of the changes, he wrote, “would go against all the principles and values ​​that I wholeheartedly believe in and stand for.” Mr Boban added. “I'm not trying to be some kind of hero, especially because I'm not the only one with my thoughts here.”

Mr Ceferin has emphasized that the changes to the statute of limitations are in fact nothing more than housekeeping and an attempt to clarify the language. But he has not said whether his current term, which ends in 2027, will be his last. If UEFA members approve the rule changes at its annual meeting in Paris next month, many insiders expect Ceferin to stay around for much longer.