AS Roma coach, Jose Mourinho on Thursday, June 22, communicated his decision to leave his position on the UEFA football board via a letter. This is coming after UEFA imposed some penalties on Roma, which include a four-match suspension for Mourinho due to his behaviour towards referee Anthony Taylor after the Europa League final.
Jose Mourinho at an AS Roma match. Source: Getty Mourinho frequently aimed at referee Anthony Taylor and even confronted the Englishman in the stadium car park after Roma’s defeat to Sevilla. He was charged with using insulting or abusive language, a charge he was found guilty of. And as the war between the Roma boss and UEFA escalates, Jose Mourinho has opted to pull out from his membership on the body’s football board. In a letter addressed to UEFA’s chief of football Zvonimir Boban, Mourinho stated that he felt obligated to step down. The letter read;
Jose Mourinho protesting against Anthony Taylor during the Europa League final. Source: Getty “In thanking you for the invitation you extended to me to be a member of the UEFA football board, I regret to inform you that, effective immediately, I will be renouncing my participation in this group. “The conditions which I so strongly believed in when I joined are no longer standing and I felt the obligation to take this decision. I kindly ask that you also communicate my decision to the President Mr. Aleksander Ceferin.” The UEFA football board is formed of coaches and players both past and present. Their aim is to tackle issues around the laws of the game, refereeing, and the football calendar, with meetings set to take place once a year. It was the brainchild of Boban and former referee Roberto Rosetti, but Mourinho appears to be continuing his feud with the governing body. The likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Paolo Maldini are also on the board, with UEFA hailing its creation back in April.
The South American country’s national team still has no coach since Tite resigned from the post after the team’s loss to Croatia in the 2022 World Cup quarter-final. The Athletic reported that while Carlo Ancelotti remains the favourite to take the job, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has drafted Mourinho as an alternative if their attempt to appoint the Italian as the next coach is unsuccessful. It was also learnt that the CBF’s preferred candidate, Ancelotti, has requested to defer any meeting before the ongoing season ends. Ancelotti has a contract with Real Madrid until 2024 but he has a condition in his contract that he has to win at least one major trophy this season. Other candidates who have been shortlisted are Fenerbahce manager Jorge Jesus, Fluminense head coach Fernando Diniz, and Palmeiras’ Abel Ferreira. 