Famous ex-Bosnian football player and coach rules out regional league

SARAJEVO, Oct 11 (Hina) - The chairman of the task force for the normalisation in the Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivica Osim, has said that there are no grounds for speculations that preparations are under way for establishing a regional soccer league with clubs from the former Yugoslav federation plus Hungary and Bulgaria.

"Nobody has given any consent to any sort of such premiership and there is no plan in the UEFA to that effect," Osim, a former famous football player and coach, was quoted by the Sarajevo-based Oslobodjenje daily as saying on Thursday.

According to some media reports, such a regional premiership would start in the spring of 2015, with 16 football teams from eight countries playing.

As for speculations about a secret meeting in the coastal Montenegrin town of Budva which reportedly discussed the matter, Osim said that he had been in Budva where he had met his friends but that the meeting had not been secret and that they had not discussed any plans for regional leagues.

This 71-year-old football manager said that he found the idea of a regional premiership very appealing and lucrative, however, the security would be the biggest problem.