Zvonimir Boban has said goodbye to FIFA and is turning a new page of his career back at his beloved AC Milan.

Gol.hr reports on June 14, 2019, that Zvonimir Boban has left his position as the Deputy Secretary General of FIFA to join AC Milan where he will assume the function of Chief Football Officer, the umbrella world football team announced in a statement on Friday. 

“I will always be grateful to FIFA President Gianni Infantino for the opportunity he gave me after his election in 2016. True to his manifesto pledge to ‘bring football back to FIFA and FIFA back to football’, he had the courage to entrust a former footballer with such a far-reaching role within the organization.

I feel really honored and privileged to have worked on such important projects to take FIFA back to its rightful place, far away from past scandals and a tarnished image. Looking back, I feel a real sense of accomplishment about my contribution to these big changes over the last three years.

I have been entrusted with leading important projects such as the revamp of the FIFA Club World Cup and the successful bidding process for the FIFA World Cup 2026™, as well as the revolutionary VAR project, which has managed to make the beautiful game fairer and protect its integrity.

None of this could have been achieved without the support of the President and amazing colleagues who are dedicated to serving the game of football across the globe. There may have been some debates along the way, but we have always upheld our motto of ‘Living Football’ and I will be eternally thankful to everyone,” Boban said on the official FIFA website. 

“It is extremely difficult to leave FIFA, but I followed my heart and my passion when making this decision, as was the case when I accepted the challenge of joining FIFA. The people at AC Milan are my family and the city of Milan and Italy are my home. I have a burning desire to help this glorious club, which means so much to me, to return where it belongs. Zurich now also has a special place in my heart after three wonderful years in Switzerland," concluded Boban for FIFA. 

Milan stated on its website announced that Boban would take on the new role of Chief Football Officer. The task will be to supervise and coordinate club sports activities, which will be chaired by director Ivan Gazidis and technical director Paolo Maldini.

Boban has been a part of FIFA since 2016 as a special advisor to Gianni Infantino and was effectively the second man in FIFA. Now, he returns to a club where he was a member for 10 years, from 1991 to 2001.

"I am very happy to return to my beloved Milan. I will contribute to bringing the club back where it deserves to be. Milan must be a leading and winning club, it's natural to his history and supporters,” Boban told the official club page. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

The international governing body of association football (FIFA) will compensate the football clubs whose players participated in national team preparations and at the World Cup itself. Among them are three Croatian clubs, reports HRT on December 5, 2018. 

“The FIFA World Cup is the pinnacle of football, generating passion and emotion from every player and every fan in every corner of the world. It is FIFA’s responsibility to redistribute the revenues of this unique competition among the entire football community, and clubs, obviously, deserve to share in this success as they were key contributors. I’m very pleased to see that teams from so many different regions will benefit from this programme, which will help to develop football even further around the globe,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino on the FIFA website on Tuesday. 

FIFA announced that they would pay $209 million as compensation to clubs who had players participating in the World Cup in Russia this summer. Among them are three Croatian clubs - Dinamo, Rijeka, and Hajduk.

Dinamo will receive the most ($680,615), followed by Rijeka ($547,605) and Hajduk ($66,505).

Almost 76 percent of this money will be awarded to European clubs, or precisely - $157.8 million. In first place is Manchester City, who will receive $5 million in compensation, followed by the European Champion Real Madrid ($4.803 million) and Tottenham in third ($4.385). Barcelona will receive $4.145 million. 

England clubs will receive a total of $37.4 million in compensation. Behind them are the clubs from Spain ($22.5 million), Germany ($18.9), Italy ($17.45) and France ($15.3).

As far as clubs from other continents are concerned, Saudi club Al Hilal will receive $2.02 million and Egyptian club Al Ahly will receive $1.7 million. 

Boca Juniors front south American clubs (to receive $1.13) and Mexican club Pachuca (to earn $1.035 million) stands out among the CONCACAF clubs.

The full list of clubs and their benefits can be found here. 

To read more about the World Cup in Russia this year, follow TCN’s dedicated page here. 

The World Cup Fan Zone in Split, where the 2018 World Cup matches were streamed, allegedly did not have a FIFA license, forcing the umbrella organization to investigate the unauthorized use of their brand within Strossmayer Park. Namely, Đardin this summer was decorated with FIFA's official mascot and advertised logos of companies that did not have any contracts with them.

The artist attended the recent ceremony where Croatia’s Luka Modrić was named FIFA’s player of the year.

While Luka Modrić was named the best footballer in the world on Monday, four other Croatian superstars shared a bit of the FIFA spotlight, too. 

The FIFA Best Awards were held at Royal Festival Hall in London on Monday. 

55 footballers have entered the shortlist of FIFA’s best team of 2018. 

Luka Modrić and Zlatko Dalić are the finalists for FIFA’s ‘The Best’ awards. 

On Thursday, the HNS Executive Committee officially confirmed a new contract for coach Zlatko Dalić, who will continue leading Croatia after the World Cup silver. 

If FIFA finds out that the lawsuit was sound, Inter could be paying a pretty penny.