Igor Stimac was unanimously voted in as the new president of the Croatian Football Federation. As of February 20, the CFF has two elected presidents – Vlatko Markovic and Igor Stimac. Which one is the legitimate president will be decided by the Bureau for General Administration in Zagreb
At an emergency assembly at the Zagreb Westin hotel, 25 of the total 49 delegates showed up – granting the assembly legitimacy – and all present voted in favor of Igor Stimac.
At that same hotel on December 17, 2010, Markovic came away with a narrow 25-24 win over Stimac.
Stimac, however, disputed the right of one of the delegates to vote at the December assembly and on January 19 – backed by 23 CFF delegates – submitted to Markovic a request for a new, emergency assembly which Markovic was required to call within 30 days or let the submitting parties call the assembly on their own.
Markovic and the delegates who voted for him dismissed the legality of Stimac’s vote, while Stimac said that all actions were in accordance with the CFF statute and that it is up to the state organs to decide.
On Saturday, CFF Secretary Zorislav Srebric called an emergency press conference where he presented the press with an official opinion from FIFA and UEFA, signed by respective secretaries Jerome Valcke and Gianni Infantino, in which the football governing bodies say that they will not recognize any decisions passed by the Sunday assembly. Srebric further rejected the possibility of two CFF chairmen, saying that the only one with legitimacy was the one registered at the Bureau for State Administration, and added that FIFA and UEFA would not allow ‘politics to mix with the national football governing body.’
