Why Zinedine Zidane missed important meeting with Jose Mourinho and top bosses from European football

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Zinedine Zidane was absent from the 20th annual UEFA coaching conference on Tuesday because he is currently on holiday with his family in Ibiza.

Bosses, former and present, from the world of European football attended the governing body's HQ in Nyon.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was there, as was was Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri, Napoli coach Carlo Anceloti and Atletico Madrid chief Diego Simeone.

Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was also present.

Zidane attended the conference in 2016 and 2017, when he was in charge of Real Madrid, but opted against going this time round.

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

The Frenchman instead decided to visit the Spanish island with wife Veronique and sons Enzo and Luca.

Zidane has been tipped as Mourinho's eventual successor at Old Trafford but United have distanced themselves from those reports, accoring to the Manchester Evening News.

Invitation to the conference is discretionary but those elite managers who attended have coached more than 100 Champions League games, made it to the last 16 of last season's Champions League or progressed to the semi-finals of last season's Europa League.

Mourinho was among those who began the forum by sending their best wishes to UEFA coaching ambassador Sir Alex Ferguson.

The managers then went on to discuss a wide range of topics, including changes to regulations like using a fourth substitute in extra time; VAR; having a unified transfer window which would overlap with the start of competitions; and a prospective review of the away goals rule in European competitions.

Among the technical trends the managers talked about were a record 3.21 goals per game in last season's Champions League, an increase in the average number of passes to score a goal and an increase in the number of comeback victories from 0-1.

The forum has previously removed the golden goal, increased anti-doping testing, introduced the UEFA Youth League and secured the addition of a Champions League place for the winner of the Europa League.