Marco van Basten leaves FIFA technical director role
By AP
Last Updated: 12/10/18 4:13pm
Netherlands legend Marco van Basten will be leaving FIFA after two years as technical director.
FIFA says the former Ajax and Milan forward is leaving amicably to be closer to his family in Amsterdam.
Van Basten helped oversee the introduction of video review for referees at the World Cup in Russia.
In a statement, Van Basten said: "After two good and interesting years I decided to put an end to my duty at FIFA, mainly to be able to spend more time with my family in Amsterdam.
"I learned a lot being in a position to influence this game from the other side. The World Cup in Russia with the introduction of VAR was a nice milestone."
FIFA deputy secretary general Zvonimir Boban, a former team-mate of Van Basten at AC Milan, said: "Marco has played an important role to reconnect the institution with its technical community."
Van Basten was also closely linked to the "Play Fair" document published last year looking at radical ways of changing and improving the game, but which had little impact.
