February 25 – The end of an era in Russian football has been confirmed with Alexander Dyukov, chief executive of oil giant Gazprom, named as Vitaly Mutko’s replacement as president of the Russian Football Union (RFU).
Just before Christmas, following weeks of conjecture about whether he was back in favour, Mutko, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, finally threw in the towel when it was announced he was not standing again as head of the RFU.
Mutko, who was banned from the Olympics for life because of the country’s doping scandals, had already relinquished his role as chairman of the country’s local organising committee for last year’s World Cup following mounting global criticism.
Having been accused of being involved in state-sponsored doping – allegations he denied – Mutko, who served as Russia’s sports minister from 2008 to 2016, confirmed he would relinquish the RFU presidency to contest the IOC ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Dyukov, former president of Zenit St. Petersburg, now takes over the role having reportedly been the only candidate to submit the required documentation to the RFU Election Committee by the January 13 deadline and will now lead Russian soccer’s governing body until 2023 after being elected unopposed
“We are setting difficult tasks, but it makes them interesting to accomplish. We will be working as a single team, we all understand what we have to do and I believe we will manage everything.” Dyukov told the RFU’s election conference.
Dyukov served as president of Zenit, owned by Gazprom, from 2008 to 2017 during which time the club won the UEFA Cup and Super Cup and three national titles. Big-name signings included included Brazil striker Hulk and Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel.
Gazprom is a UEFA sponsor and Zenit’s home stadium will host part of the European Championship next year in the one-off pan-Continental competition.
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