The history of Ukrainian football knows many high-profile scandals: corruption, oligarchic, abusive, with and without fights. The most epic of them is undoubtedly the bribe from the Surkis brothers to the Spanish referee, which they tried to give with two mink coats. But even this shame, it looks like we can soon surpass it
Elections without the right to choose
On February 25, the Ukrainian Football Association will host an electoral congress. At it, Andrei Shevchenko will be elected as the new president of the association, sports journalists say. After all, Sheva became the only registered candidate for these elections.
“In a week we will have a new head of the UAF and with a 100% probability it will be Andrei Shevchenko, nominated from the “ruling party,” commented TaToTake journalist Maxim Gilenko.
Everyone else who had ambitions to try their hand at becoming head of the UAF was not allowed to nominate them.
“Of course, I wanted to go to the polls. I even found like-minded people who could become my team - Levchenko, Khudzhamov, we talked superficially with Fedetsky and with several other people who are not from football.
But they made me understand that everything has already been decided - Shevchenko is being made president of the UAF. Everyone understands who is doing it. Regional associations vote, but behind them are the governors, and behind them is the Office of the President. By the way, the voting is closed. I wonder why?
In short, I didn’t want to become a technical candidate,” ex-football player Roman Zozulya recently said about this.
Where is the team and program?
A few days before the elections themselves, Andrei Shevchenko has still not presented either his program or the members of his team. Sports observers consider this a sign of a lack of professionalism on the part of the former national team coach.
“This is complete nonsense; if you approach the issue this way, nothing will work. This must be understood on the shore. Because first a team is formed, first people are united by some vision, some thought - how you want to develop football, what do you see as the priority steps, you are already preparing for the first weeks and months of work in these positions (president and vice-presidents) , and now no one knows who will take these positions.
It’s unprofessional when you take a position, you have to perform important administrative functions, take the first effective steps, and you don’t know who on your team will do it,” says sports journalist Mikhail Smolovy.
From time to time, “insiders” appear on the Internet about the likely appearance of either Dynamo legend Oleg Luzhny or Lviv journalist Viktor Vatsko in Shevchenko’s company. But they all subsequently denied their involvement in Sheva’s team
Pavelko in pre-trial detention center
Active attempts to organize elections to the UAF begin in November-December 2022. At this moment, the criminal prosecution of the current UAF President Andrei Pavelko and the manifestation of pressure on the regional representatives of the Association began simultaneously so that they initiated the convening of an extraordinary congress. This was also recorded by sports journalists.
“Remember, earlier I talked about how six heads of regional associations wrote protocols on the convening of an extraordinary congress of the UAF on December 20 in the offices of the heads of military administrations and as a carbon copy. So, nothing worked out for them. Therefore, attempt No. 2 is taking place to remove the leadership of the UAF, code-named VIRTUAL ICON. An action plan for convening and holding a virtual UAF Executive Committee was sent to all members of the Executive Committee! According to the plans of the leaders of the sabotage group, the signature of 31 members of the Executive Committee is required to hold the congress. Further, according to the scheme, each Bulletin should have a “+” mark opposite the column,” wrote the President of the Ukrainian team of journalists, Olga Vitak, when she published the “action plan” and the draft bulletin developed for it.
Already in June 2023, Pavelko was arrested in Lviv. The conclusion took place within the framework of proceedings on the construction of a plant for the production of football grass. The functionary’s lawyers claim the ordered nature of the case, noting that there is no evidence of Pavelko’s guilt in this proceeding, even according to the findings of NABU.
“In total, during the period of his arrest, not a single investigative action was carried out on him (Pavelko), he was not even interrogated regarding suspicion. The arrest of the UAF President has nothing to do with the objectives of criminal proceedings.
The goal of the investigation is simply to isolate him (Pavelko). In this case, we are talking about abuse of power for purposes that are obviously related to his professional activities and position,” his lawyer Sergei Boyko said in a Facebook comment.
Position or freedom
What is most confusing about this story is the fact that Shevchenko was elected thanks to keeping the current UAF president in jail.
“It’s not comme il faut to pick on Pavelko in this way,” says journalist Mikhail Spivakovsky, who the day before revealed information about Pavelko’s blackmail.
“We understand that Shevchenko is a candidate.
I have repeatedly heard from many sources that Pavelko, where he is now, was offered to simply surrender his position and be released the next day. Pavelko says: “No, no, and no again,” Spivakovsky said.
Accordingly, the journalist says, the way in which the electoral process takes place: “this is, in principle, the interference of the authorities in football affairs. And UEFA never liked it."
Risks of legalizing Shevchenko
Considering this whole rather dirty picture with the UAF election process: the absence of competitors, secret voting and the physical elimination of the opponent, we can expect a reaction from UEFA on this matter at any moment.
The legitimacy of the work of national member associations for UEFA is determined by several criteria. And the basic one is independence and non-interference of the authorities. In the situation we have, everything is exactly the opposite.
