Aleksander Čeferin has paid tribute to one of the world's all-time leading football coaches, Arrigo Sacchi, by selecting him as the winner of the 2022 UEFA President's Award.

"This award recognises professional excellence and furthermore, it honours the legacy left by exceptional individuals in the game of football. Very few people have reshaped the philosophy of the game in the way that Arrigo Sacchi has managed, so that the sport itself can be observed in two eras – pre- and post-Sacchi. The endless tactical innovations he introduced are today the foundations of any footballing playbook, mirrored by generations of coaches who have followed.

Sacchi reinvented the ethos of teamwork, which transcended to pure harmony on the pitch. Perfect synchronisation and a winning mindset, irrespective of whether they were playing at home or away, felt almost supernatural back in the 1980s. That is precisely what divides excellence from greatness," Čeferin concluded.