What we know about UEFA official Zvonimir Boban resigning and why

Zvonimir Boban, the chief of football for UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), left his position after protesting its president Aleksandar Ceferin and his effort to change statutes when it comes to term limits.

Currently, members of the UEFA Executive Committee and its president can't run for office more than three times and can't stay in their positions for more than 12 years.

"Paradoxically, it was Ceferin who proposed and launched the package of reforms in 2017 that were supposed to protect UEFA and European football," Boban wrote in an open letter to Telesport.

"His departure from these values ​​and changes in the main reforms are difficult to understand, especially in this delicate football time.

"If I were to accept such a difficult and wrong decision and turn my head, I would be going against the principles and general values ​​in which I deeply believe."

UEFA, which is European football's governing body, oversees soccer in 55 nations, the European Championship and the Champions League.

Who is Zvonimir Boban?

The 55-year-old Boban is a former midfielder for AC Milan and captained Croatia, when the country placed third in its inaugural World Cup appearance in 1999. He has been the director of football for UEFA since 2021.

Why did Zvonimir Boban resign from UEFA?

Boban said that Ceferin is in favor of a proposal that changes UEFA's rules on term limits. The next Congress meeting is on Feb. 8 in Paris.

“The proposed change is to simply clarify the position established in the statutes with regard to preserving the accepted legal principle that retroactivity should not apply," UEFA said in a statement. The organization also said that Boban left UEFA "by mutual agreement."

Who is Aleksander Ceferin?

Ceferin, 56, has been UEFA's president since 2016, taking over from Michel Platini, and previously was the head of Slovenia’s soccer federation. He was re-elected UEFA president last year and his new four-year term ends in 2027.

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

What changes is UEFA trying to make?

The reforms that UEFA is attempting concern terms limits, and the ability for Ceferin to seek another four-year term after his current one ends.

With FIFA, the world's governing body in soccer, still reeling from the corruption scandal in 2015, which saw dozens of officials implicated in a bribery scheme to secure hosting rights to the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, term limits were introduced to bring stability to the organization.

How would this affect the Champions League?

The Champions League, which pits the top European soccer teams, and brings in more than $4 billion in revenue, will likely not be affected by the term limit proposal. The last time the Champions League supremacy was threatened, was when several top teams tried to create a super league in 2021, an idea that was quickly panned and shot down in quick succession.

Last month, the European Court of Justice ruled that UEFA and FIFA violated European Union law by trying to stop the Super League formation, accusing the two leagues of  “abusing a dominant position” when it comes to organizing soccer competitions.