Nemanja Vidic withdrew his candidacy the day before the elections in the FSS, so Dragan Dzajic remains the only candidate for the position of the first man of Serbian football, which will be elected tomorrow.
Vidic explained today’s withdrawal of his candidacy in a statement delivered to the media, which we are transcribing in its entirety:
“Dear football fans,
Our football faces big challenges. Many things must and can be improved. My idea was and remains to gather a team of top professionals who are capable of solving these challenges better than perhaps anyone in Europe. Unfortunately, at every step of the way to becoming president of FSS, it was made clear to me that we would not be given that chance. I hereby wish to inform you that I am withdrawing my candidacy for FSS president.
The responsibility for solving the great challenges before us has been taken by the same group of people who created them. I am definitely not optimistic about what they will do with the opportunity they seized and I think that in four years it will be even more difficult than today.
Withdrawing my candidacy does not mean that I give up Serbian football. I believe in my team and our vision, as well as the great help we will receive from our friends from the top of European and world football. What is unfortunately not possible for us to start working on today – my team and I will do, I believe, in the near future. Now that is not possible.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me in this process, especially everyone who supported me publicly despite great pressure. I am extremely glad that I felt great support from the people. Unfortunately, they do not decide and do not have the right to vote. I wanted to unite and not divide. I wanted to be the solution and not the problem. The people in Serbian football and the majority of the delegates in the Assembly decided by “voting” before submitting their candidacy, before the election, thus collapsing the credibility already shaken by the last election session. They didn’t want to hear my intentions and compare the team I assembled, the ideas we bring, with the opponent.
Finally – I am proud that we have shown that there is a younger and different football Serbia. Serbia of the future!
Nemanja Vidic”.
