The legendary Croatian footballer Zvonimir Boban has repeated that he does not want to be the president of the European Football Union (UEFA).
Boban said that a "real man from football" is needed for this, not "technocrats who think they are bigger than football".
At the end of January, the legendary footballer resigned from the position of head of football at UEFA in protest at the intention of President Aleksandar Čeferin to change the statute, which would allow him to remain in office longer.
Čeferin called Boban a "clown" at the UEFA congress, and his allies claimed that Boban wanted to take over the House of Football.
"I'm not interested in that. But real football people are really needed in UEFA," said Boban.
Before UEFA, Boban worked at the International Football Federation (FIFA) under president Gianni Infantino, and left his position in 2019 to take a job in Milan.
Čeferin and Infantino are lawyers who were elected in 2016 after a great turmoil in UEFA and FIFA and during investigations in the USA and Switzerland regarding corruption in world football.
Infantino was previously the general secretary of UEFA for more than six years.
"Unfortunately, football technocracy has been in the system for years. Those people think they are more important than the game, the players, the coaches, the fans, and even the actual football institutions," said Boban.
In 2021, Boban came to UEFA as Čeferin's advisor.
"I'm sorry for the way our relationship ended," Boban said, adding that he hasn't spoken to Čeferin since then.
UEFA has a 12-year term limit for its president, one of the anti-corruption reforms adopted in response to criminal investigations.
However, Ceferin wanted to take advantage of an amendment approved by Uefa members in February, which excludes his first three years from the 12-year term, as he was technically completing Michel Platini's term.
Then Čeferin said that he would leave office in 2027 and would not run again.
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