The Pechersk district court of Kiev decided on a measure of restraint in the form of detention with an alternative to bail of 9 million 880 thousand UAH to the president of the Ukrainian Football Association (UFA) Andrey Pavelko, bail has already been paid for him, reports the newspaper “Ukrainian Truth”.
“Today there was a meeting of the Pechersky court. Unfortunately, the court did not listen to our arguments and decided to arrest with the possibility of bail. Bail has already been paid. It was paid by the UAF. Now the legal procedures are being finalized to confirm the payment. And we hope that Pavelko will soon appear in the UAF office and will continue to perform his duties,” the newspaper quotes UAF lawyer Denis Bugai as saying.
According to him, the term of arrest is two months. Bail is 9 mln 880 thousand UAH.
According to Ukrayinska Pravda, Pavelko is being held at the Main Investigative Police Department. The UAF expects that “in a few hours” the bail issue will be resolved and he will be released.
“The investigation states that there is a seizure (Pavelko – IF) of UAF funds. This is not true. The funds in question are payments for services provided to the UAF by the famous soccer referee Pierluigi Collina. They had all this evidence, but this evidence was not submitted to the court, but hidden”, – said Bugai.
According to the newspaper, the criminal proceedings were investigated for over three years by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), then it was transferred to the police. It is about possible corruption of the FFU in the construction of soccer fields, which the NABU investigated in 2018.
According to the UAF lawyer, Pavelko and UAF general secretary Yuriy Zapisotskiy have been notified of suspicion under the article on embezzlement of funds as part of the investigation.
Head coach of the Ukrainian national football team Andrey Shevchenko announced the expiration of a five-year contract with the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) and his resignation.
“Today my contract with the Ukrainian Football Association expired, I spent five years with the main team of the country,” Shevchenko said on his Facebook page on Sunday.
He thanked the UAF President and the Executive Committee for working with the Ukrainian national team.
“I am grateful to every player, every person who helped and was involved in the team. Many thanks to all fans for their support and criticism. Together we managed to show that our football can be competitive, productive and interesting,” Shevchenko said.
As reported, Shevchenko became the mentor of the national team in 2016, when his candidacy was unanimously supported at a meeting on Friday by the Executive Committee of the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU). The contract with Shevchenko was signed for two years with the possibility of extension for another two years.
In July 2012, Shevchenko announced the end of his football career. In November of the same year, then FFU President Anatoliy Konkov offered Shevchenko to become the head coach of the Ukrainian national team, but he refused.
In March 2015, Shevchenko received a coaching license of the highest category – “PRO” – a UEFA diploma, which gives the right to work as the head coach of a club or national team. In mid-April 2015, by decision of the FFU Executive Committee, he became one of the three first deputy heads of the FFU Committee of National Teams. On February 16, 2016, Shevchenko became an assistant to the head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Mykhailo Fomenko.
ANDREY SHEVCHENKO, FFU, FOOTBALL, UAF, UKRAINIAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
