As per The Times, Gareth Southgate, José Mourinho, Rio Ferdinand and Zinedine Zidane are to be members of a new UEFA advisory board of elite coaches and former players which will aim to tackle issues around the laws of the game, refereeing and the football calendar.
Former Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira and ex-Chelsea star Didier Drogba have also been invited onto the new board but have yet to confirm their status.
Other confirmed members include Carlo Ancelotti, Paolo Maldini, Fabio Capello, Javier Zanetti, Luis Figo, Philipp Lahm, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Rafa Benítez, Roberto Martínez, Predrag Mijatovic, Jürgen Klinsmann, Rudi Völler, Petr Cech, Juan Mata and Robbie Keane.
It is a historic step in the history of football. The UEFA Football Board was approved this week and it is the first time such a high-level football advisory body has been created.
The new board’s inaugural meeting will take place on April 24 and one of its first tasks will be to look at the handball law which Uefa’s president Aleksander Ceferin has described as ‘incomprehensible’.
Elsewhere, the issues around VAR, UEFA competitions, player wellbeing, tactics and youth development will be discussed.
