Alexander Dyukov, CEO of Gazprom Neft and Chairman of the Board of Directors of St. Petersburg Zenit, has been elected President of the Russian Football Union (RFU). Decision accepted based on the results of voting at an extraordinary conference of the organization.
Dyukov was the only candidate for the presidency of the RFU. It was nominated by the Football Federation of Tatarstan and supported by many other Russian entities and football clubs of the Premier League. “Does it bother me that there is only one candidate for the RFU president? Me – no. The main thing is that it does not bother the delegates of the regional federations, ”said the Minister of Sports Pavel Kolobkov at the RFU conference before the presidential elections, reports“ Championship ”.
To win, Dyukov needed to get the support of a simple majority: 50% of the voters plus two delegates must vote for him. “For me, this is a new interesting challenge,” Dyukov replied to Vedomosti when asked why he needed the post of RFU President: “In business, I am always driven by the desire to create and achieve noticeable changes. The same principles apply to football. “
Earlier, Dyukov said that if he was appointed to the post of president of the RFU, he would have to leave Zenit (the main sponsor of the club is Gazprom), the board of directors of which he has been heading since 2008. During this time, the club became the champion of Russia three times (2010, 2012 and 2015), won the Russian Cup twice (2010 and 2016), won the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup (2008). According to Dyukov, he will need to focus on the RFU, and it would be wrong to combine this with work at Zenit, Sport Express reported.
Until December last year, the RFU was headed by former Minister of Sports, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko for three years. In December 2017, the International Olympic Committee suspended him for life from participation in the Olympic Games in any capacity. In the same month, he suspended his work as president of the RFU, and in May 2018 he announced that he could finally step down from office in three to four months due to his appointment as deputy prime minister.
After the departure of Mutko, the head of the Russian Football Premier League, Sergei Pryadkin, was appointed acting president of the football union. He did not take part in the elections for the head of the RFU.
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Who and how led the Russian Football Union
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