Andriy Shevchenko became a candidate for the presidency of the Ukrainian Football Association

Andrii Shevchenko was officially nominated as a candidate for the position of president of the Ukrainian Football Association.

This was reported by the press service of the UAF.

Shevchenko thanked the permanent members of the Ukrainian Football Association for their initiative.

"I thank you for the expressed trust and accept the offer to run for the post of UAF president. I am taking time to prepare the program and select the team and plan to meet with representatives of all regional federations," Shevchenko wrote.

The presidential election will be held on January 25, 2024. They will elect a new president of the organization instead of Andriy Pavelek.

According to the statute, any able-bodied person, not older than 70 years old, who has Ukrainian citizenship and is a congress delegate, can be elected as the president of the UAF. Shevchenkoʼs candidacy was nominated by 14 permanent members of the association.

• Andriy Shevchenko was a professional football player in 1994-2012, after which he switched to coaching, in particular, he was the head coach of the national team of Ukraine. Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine (2003), Hero of Ukraine (2004), after the start of the full-scale invasion, he became the ambassador of the United24 fundraising platform. In September 2023 , Shevchenko became a freelance adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

The arrest of the current president of the UAF, Andriy Pavelek

Since March 2015, the Ukrainian Football Association has been headed by Andrii Pavelko. On November 29, 2022, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv sent Andrii Pavelko under arrest. He is suspected of being involved in fraud with the construction of a plant for the production of artificial grass for football fields. Pavelko was immediately released on bail of 9.8 million hryvnias. However, on June 16, the court decided to arrest Pavelko and transfer the bail to the state.

• In 2018-2019, the investigators of the National Police opened criminal proceedings against the leadership of the UAF and its chairman Andriy Pavelek due to the possible embezzlement of budget 270 million hryvnias ($11.16 million), which were allocated for the construction of football fields with an artificial surface in the regions, as well as due to the possible seizure with budget funds of "FFU Production" and "Sport Technology".
• Two more cases are being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau: the abuse of official position by the federationʼs leadership, which led to inflated prices during the purchase of fields, and the false declaration of property by the president of the federation Andriy Pavelko.