Dutch legend Marco Van Basten would relinquish his role as FIFA’s chief technical officer at the end of October, as announced on Friday.
The former striker said that he made this decision so that he could find time to spend with his family.
Van Basten had joined FIFA in 2016 where his role was primarily to look to use technology and innovation to develop the ways in which the game was played.
“Marco will depart FIFA on mutual terms at the end of October to spend more time in the Netherlands with his family,” said FIFA in a statement where they also stated that Van Basten has agreed to chip in, collaborating with the world soccer’s governing body in the future.
The former striker was one of the leading figures behind the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), which was used for the first time in this year’s World Cup in Russia.
“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,” the 53-year old said.
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“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,” he added.
Last year, the former AC Milan and Ajax player said that he was for new experiments in the game like the introduction of sin bins in place of yellow cards and doing away with the offside rule.
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