Slavisa Kokeza steps down as president of the Serbian Football Federation!

The position of the head of the Federation (FSS) remains vacant ahead of the start of World Cup qualifications

The president of the Football Federation of Serbia, Slavisa Kokeza, today decided to submit his irrevocable resignation from that position.

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As he said in a statement, he resigned in the face of accusations and brutal attacks on his person, and in order to defend his honor and reputation that is being tarnished.

"I wish to inform my associates, as well as the sporting and the football public, that I am stepping down from the position of the president of the Football Federation of Serbia. Wishing to, above all, provide the national team with the necessary peace, I am ready for a new fight in which I will do everything to refute the attacks on my name and person," stated Kokeza.

Slavisa Kokeza has never been and will never be a suspicious person to people with whom he has shared the same values ​​for almost 20 years, he added.

"Respecting everything that was built in that relationship, no one should be defending Aleksandar Vucic and Serbia from Slavisa Kokeza, because Slavisa Kokeza stood with Vucic and Serbia when many did not dare or want to do that. I was proud then, and am proud even now when dangerous untruths are brutally presented, which of course caused damage to the office that I will no longer hold. I am resigning from the position of the president of the Football Federation of Serbia in order to put myself in the service of justice and truth, which will guide me in the coming period," stated Kokeza.

With this act, Kokeza stressed, he wished to provide the Football Federation of Serbia and our best national team, which is about to start World Cup qualifiers, with peace and stability, in order to focus with as few problems as possible on the upcoming challenges, of which the games against the Republic of Ireland and Portugal may be key in the fight for a spot at the World Cup, which will be held in Qatar in 2022.

"I am happy, satisfied and proud that on that path, the national team will be lead by in my opinion the biggest name in the history of our football, Dragan Stojkovic. I wish him, as well as all the people in the system of the Football Federation, a lot of success going forward," said Kokeza.

Kokeza spent almost five years as the president of the Football Federation of Serbia since taking on this role in May 2016.

During his term, Serbia's national team managed to earn a place at the World Cup in Russia in 2018, but was accompanied by a negative atmosphere due to many of his decisions, because of which it was time for Kokeza to leave Serbian football.

Kokeza was recently taken to the Service for the Fight against Organized Crime for an informative interview, when he refused to take a polygraph and answer the question whether he allegedly participated in preparing Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's assassination.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)