Andriy Pavelko: “2019 was a successful year for Ukrainian football. I wish the 2020s got better ... ”

24.12.2019 13:00

Photo by Volodymyr Rasner

The passing year has become a year of great victories for Ukrainian football. 20-year-old World Cup gold, a ticket to the Euro 2020 from the first place in the group, where together with the blue and yellow were the current European champions.

These are just the most obvious successes of Ukrainian football. Journalists of the official site of the Ukrainian Football Association spoke about them, as well as about those less visible to ordinary fans of the past year, with the UEFA President, UEFA Executive Committee member Andriy Pavel.

- At the ceremony "Football stars of Ukraine" -2019 Andriy Shevchenko, receiving the award for the best coach of the country, thanked you for the fact that after qualifying for the 2018 World Cup you made a decision and convinced the UAF Executive Committee to entrust his coaching staff to the national team for another qualifying round. "Although, probably, it was logical to release us then," added the head of the national team. If you made a different decision then - one big success this year could be less ...

- It's nice that Andriy Mykolayovych mentioned it. It really was a very delicate story. What I just did not remember when we decided to appoint Andriy Shevchenko head coach of the national team after Euro 2016! Both family ties and the fact that he had almost no coaching experience… But I was impressed by Andriy's coaching ideas. In addition, I understood that the lack of sufficient coaching experience is compensated by high-class specialists who were ready to terminate their current contracts with European clubs for the sake of working in the national team of Ukraine.

So, after the qualifying round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup we did not get the required result. But at the same time, you didn't have to be a great expert to see how the national team game changed. Yes, there was no stability, hindered staff problems ... In such a situation, not to give Andrew another chance would be completely wrong. I am glad that the members of the executive committee listened to my arguments, and as a result we got a selection cycle in which the Ukrainian team for the first time in history has not lost a single match! In the group we had the champions of Europe, led by Cristiano Ronaldo himself.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Andriy Mykolayovych and I recently discussed this situation. And he really said that his release at that time would be quite justified. Moreover, due to my and his busy schedule, our meeting to discuss further cooperation was delayed, and Shevchenko's aides have already seen this situation as a signal that the contract signed under the 2 + 2 scheme will not continue.

And, according to Andriy, when he announced that the cooperation would be continued, his assistants, as they say in such cases, had their eyes lit up. I am grateful to Mauro Tassotti, Andrea Mulderi, Pedro Haro, who then gained patience. By the way, the coaching staff of the national team even agreed to a serious change in the financial conditions of cooperation - the new contracts stipulated that they will receive their full payments only in the event of reaching the Euro. For me, this is an additional indicator that Andriy Shevchenko and his assistants were confident in the team's capabilities and in the chosen path. As a result, the national team of Ukraine made the whole country happy. And I am very glad that after the selection for the 2018 World Cup we made the right choice!

- The Ukrainian national team is now adored by fans - all home matches are sold out. In addition, this year Zaporizhia was added to the list of cities that were lucky enough to host the main team of the country ...

- The idea that the national team of Ukraine belongs to the whole country, and therefore it should not play in one city, we adopted a long time ago. And it's really nice that no matter where the national team comes from, the stadium is full everywhere. This year it was like that in all five cities of Ukraine, where the national team played. Such a wide geography in one year in the national team was the first time! Zaporizhzhya became the eighth city, which adopted the national team during its existence. And we are not going to dwell on this!

It is significant, in my opinion, that in the match with Portugal NSC "Olympic" was filled an hour before the starting whistle. Before that, to be honest, I do not remember. The national team of Ukraine not only pleases the fans with an interesting game and brilliant results, but also meets them regularly in open training, and they reciprocate!

"They paid the U-20 million dollars to the national team - this is a solid amount even by European standards"

- 2019 will go down in history as the year of triumph of the Ukrainian U-20 national team at the World Cup. But you had to hear a lot of complaints about the delay in paying bonuses for the team of Alexander Petrakov. After the spectacular "Evening of Champions" and a considerable amount received by the U-20 team, many warm words have already been spoken to you.

- I have repeatedly spoken about openness and transparency in the activities of the Ukrainian Football Association. All payments we make are completely transparent. Including bonuses for the players of the national team of Ukraine, which became the world champion. All taxes were paid from them. We have not had such a practice. In any case, we did not find in the archive of accounting documents on the payment of bonuses for any national football team of Ukraine.

According to some coaches and players who received them, we found out that there were payouts. But their origin is unknown. We have completely "white" accounting. In addition, we needed some time. I am grateful to the Ferrexpo group of companies and personally to Konstantin Valentinovich Zhevago. With their help, we managed to significantly increase the initial amount of bonuses and reach a solid figure - one million US dollars. It is said that the national team received the same amount for the 2006 World Cup. But, I repeat, we did not find any accounting documents confirming this.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

It is unrealistic to predict such success and prepare for it in advance. So in Poland, right after the final match, I promised that there would be bonuses. The result was a solid amount even by European standards. And in the history of Ukraine, this money was paid for the first time for the success of the youth team and the squabbles. And, again, all this is absolutely transparent, with all taxes and fees paid.

I will also note that on my initiative, the first coaches of the players who became world champions also received an award. It was nice to hear words of gratitude from people who train children all their lives, instilling in them a love for football, for such a decision. Hear about their vivid emotions and impressions they received during the award ceremony. In addition, this is our decision - an incentive for other children's mentors. Educate players who will achieve great success, and your work will be rewarded!

"Evening of Champions" turned out to be very warm and emotional. In addition to the team of world champions, we invited children's coaches, football veterans, including Golden Ball winners Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov, coaches of youth and youth teams, representatives of regional federations, sports officials led by Sergei Bubka. Everyone was very pleased!

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

- Will the national team for bonuses for Euro 2020 receive bonuses according to the same scheme?

- Of course! Just as a well-deserved and solid reward was paid for winning the group tournament of the League of Nations! I repeat, immediately after my election as the head of the association, I set a task to make its activities completely transparent. And now we strictly adhere to this rule. Now all players of different national teams receive all payments to their personal account, and they can, without hiding, show this income to any inspection organizations. So we paid the team of Alexander Petrakov. So at the beginning of next year we will pay the players and coaches of the national team for Euro 2020. And the amount planned to be paid will also be a record in the history of the national team.

By the way, I am pleased that we never discuss the amount of bonuses with players during the competition. This applies to all teams! Soccer players and coaches know that if successful, they will be rewarded with dignity. There is complete trust between me and the team leaders, and the players, for their part, fully trust the mentors in this matter and think only about the game during the tournaments.

"The man said - the man did." So, speaking about you, Alexander Petrakov summarized the story with the awarding of bonuses ...

- I always try to follow this principle. If we talk about football and sports in general, this can be confirmed by those who now manage and train at modern stadiums in Dnipro, Chernihiv, Khust and other cities. When we came there several times and promised to carry out a complete reconstruction of these facilities, few believed us. The same stadium "Olympic Reserves" (in the past - "Labor Reserves". Approx. Ed.) in the Dnieper promised to reconstruct each election since 1998. Therefore, my words during the visit in 2015 were initially mistrusted. And how pleased it was to hear words of gratitude at the opening of this sports arena in two years!

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

- The goalkeeper of the national team of Ukraine U-20 Andriy Lunin could not come to the "Evening of Champions", but his mother came. And she reminded you how you organized a charter for Andriy from the location of the national team to Poland, where Oleksandr Petrakov's wards continued their performance.

- Andriy came from Poland to the national team for the match against Serbia and Luxembourg, but it was clear from him that he was mentally at the U-20 World Cup. I talked to Andriy, told him not to worry, and offered him a charter plane. He, however, did not immediately believe, then asked several times - is it really real. He had no other options to appear in the national team's location to take part in the semifinals. As a result, having made the flight Lviv - Gdansk, Lunin joined the partners and helped them win not only in the semifinals but also in the finals. And he received a prize as the best goalkeeper of the tournament.

"The authority of Ukrainian football is growing - for the first time we will play a friendly match with the current world champions"

- At the draw in Bucharest, the card with the name of the national team of Ukraine from the first basket was obtained under the first number. What did you think at that moment?

- Let's not comment on it now. Let's talk about this moment after the European Championship.

- At Euro 2020, the national team of Ukraine will be based in Bucharest. Did you go to the draw already knowing that?

- No. As you know, all decisions concerning the national team are approved by the head coach. Our task is to provide him with the most comfortable conditions and complete information, and the final choice is up to Andriy Shevchenko. Our representatives have reviewed several options. I know that we studied the possibilities of basing in Amsterdam, Budapest, Munich - we reviewed all the options that UEFA recommends for Euro 2020 participants. But in the end they stopped in Bucharest. We had a certain advantage, because even before the draw we knew exactly which group we would play in. That's why they booked the option they liked earlier than their opponents. I know that a few days after the draw, representatives of the Austrian national team came to the hotel we chose - they also liked it.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

In addition, we met with the Ambassador of Ukraine to Romania and discussed with him various options for supporting our fans to come to Euro 2020. We are planning to open a fan embassy in Bucharest, where fans of the Ukrainian national team will be able to answer any questions.

- In the draw you agreed on control matches with Poland and France. Prior to that, we played with world champions only in official matches ...

- Negotiations with the Poles were conducted in advance. But it was really agreed in principle with the French in Bucharest. After the draw, they announced that the match will take place at the main stadium of the country, the Stade de France. Admittedly, I am very much looking forward to the match, which will be held on March 27.

The fact that the French in the status of the best team on the planet agreed to play us without any special pretexts indicates that the authority of Ukrainian football has grown. Previously, the best team on the planet was our rivals in official matches only.

Photo by uefa.com

Increasing the authority of Ukrainian football in the world makes it easier for us to find top rivals for the youth team. Yes, in May within the framework of the Valery Lobanovsky Tournament she will play with Portugal, and after the tournament she has scheduled a sparring match with Italy.

- Ruslan Rotan's team, unlike Andriy Shevchenko's team, cannot boast of excellent results in the qualifying tournament. This gives critics a reason to raise the issue of the resignation of the young leader of the youth team from time to time ...

- Personally, I am categorically against asking questions like that! We talked to you about the situation with Andriy Shevchenko, whom some experts and journalists simply demanded to be fired two years ago.

I think it is very important that on my part, as the president of the UAF, the mentors feel full confidence. And this applies not only to national and youth teams. This applies to coaches of all national teams. Agree, it is more comfortable to work when the mentor knows that under no circumstances will the president of the association interfere in his work, ask to call or put in a player. I have never done this and will not do it! And at the same time the coaches are provided with all the conditions for training - training, sparring, participation in tournaments.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

At the end of the current selection, we will analyze the work of the coaching staff of the youth team. And only after that we will make a decision. It is too early to say what it will be like now. We went through a similar path with Andriy Shevchenko, who had time to create a new team and was not afraid to experiment, because he knew about my full support. We will do the same with Ruslan Rotan.

His team started training with one team, won several tournaments. Including, for the first time in the last 10 years, she won at Tournaments of Valery Lobanovsky. Just before the start of the selection, she was joined by players from Alexander Petrakov's national team. Naturally, it takes time for them to fit into the team game being built by Ruslan Rotan. So let's have some patience.

"It is impossible to get to the UEFA Executive Committee on the principle of continuity, someone's quota or protection"

- In 2015, you led Ukrainian football in a difficult period. The country started a war, football clubs disappeared one after another, the federation itself was in a miserable state ... But in February 2019, at the UEFA Congress in Rome, you were elected to the renewed UEFA Executive Committee. We can say that in this way your work in Ukraine was recognized at the international level. Although you have heard the version that you got a seat in the UEFA Executive Committee on the principle of continuity ...

- ... Especially considering the work that my predecessor from Ukraine did in the UEFA Executive Committee to keep me away! After all, the information war against me began before the finals of the men's and women's Champions League, which took place in Kyiv, and continues to this day.

But back to the elections in Rome. At present, it is impossible to get into the UEFA Executive Committee on the principle of continuity, someone's quota or protection. That is why I am proud that my work and the work of our entire team in the Ukrainian Football Association was so highly appreciated by UEFA. I am proud to have become the first representative of Ukraine to be elected to the UEFA Executive Committee directly, without any small tricks in the form of "co-op membership", as was the case in the past.

Photo by uefa.com

UEFA is well informed about what is happening in our country. And understanding the difficult conditions in which we have to work, they draw conclusions. We keep our football at a fairly high level. Yes, there are problems. But no matter what our "friends" say about us, we are moving forward. Yes, we had to reduce our elite division from 16 to 12 teams. But time has shown that this conscious step was the right one! I promised to return to 16 teams, and in the 2021/2022 season it will happen! In the next championship, we will increase the number of clubs in the Premier League to 14, and then return to the more familiar to all of us system with 16 teams in the elite division.

But a few years ago, we only had 10 teams in the second league! There were only 40 professional teams in the country. I think this is the lowest number of clubs in all leagues in history. In many areas there were no professional football teams at all. But as time shows, we have made the right steps: split the second league into zones, take on arbitration fees, reduce the burden on clubs, hold numerous meetings, negotiate with local authorities, businessmen to reach out to local football clubs.

As a result, we now have 50 professional teams in all leagues. And there are all prerequisites for this number to increase. And what an intrigue! One first league, where eight clubs immediately claim the promotion in the class, which is worth it. In addition, amateur football regularly has strong teams with the right infrastructure who want to grow in status and become professionals. For at least two years in each region of Ukraine there has been at least one professional team. And this is the pinnacle of the pyramid of football development in each region, the presence of a professional team stimulates the development of football in the region at all levels.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Especially among professional teams, I would single out Tavriya, which is based in the Kherson region, but represents the annexed Crimea. This was a serious decision, and I would like to personally thank Serhiy Kunitsyn for its implementation. As the vice-president of our organization, he was responsible for Crimean football. Now Tavria has a new partner, and I am sure that soon this team will really fight for a ticket to the first league.

Returning to the UEFA Executive Committee elections, I would like to thank once again our legendary Golden Ball winners Oleg Blokhin, Igor Belanov, Andriy Shevchenko, and the head of the NOC of Ukraine, Serhiy Bubka, who flew to Rome in February to support me. This was also a sign for my enemies. After all, I was personally supported by people who wrote the glory not only of Ukrainian football, but also of Ukrainian sports in general. I am very grateful to them! And for the European football family, it was a signal of how the legends of our sport treat me in Ukraine. And this, in turn, speaks of the unity of our football family and support for the reforms and transformations that we are carrying out.

Let's be honest: the system that we had in the same professional football - with contract matches, sometimes - with the arbitrariness of the referees, with the lack of football infrastructure, which no one really ever dealt with - had no future. But our team, which came to the leadership of Ukrainian football in 2015, could say: "There is a war in the country, we do not want to build stadiums and grounds." And hardly anyone would blame us in such a situation for inaction.

Photo of UAF press service

But we took a different path - we initiated the reconstruction of the football infrastructure of the whole country. And now we can say that our plan in 2020 to have 2 sites and 500 fields with synthetic coating in the country will be exceeded. After all, as of the beginning of 50, according to regional associations, we had 2018 fields with synthetic coating, built in 50. Our initiatives pushed the state to start implementing a large-scale program for the construction of sites.

We have now requested information from the regional associations on the construction of football fields and venues in the past year. Must come to a number close to hundreds of full-size fields. Together with the initiative of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in 2020, we can reconstruct or build 100 stadiums by the end of next year, we can have almost 200 fields with modern coverage in Ukraine. Agree, even for our huge country, this is already a good indicator.

"When the UAF president is accused of lobbying for the construction of football fields - it's normal"

- You mentioned the initiative that arose several years ago and is aimed at starting a large-scale reconstruction of the football infrastructure. Then you called it a kind of "Marshall Plan" - it led to the recovery of Europe's economy after World War II, and you talked about global changes in Ukrainian football. However, there are those who do not like your initiatives. Manipulations of facts have begun, accusations have been leveled at you ... in the construction of football fields ...

- If the president of the football association is accused of lobbying for the construction of football fields - this is normal! The head of the swimming federation must look for any ways to build swimming pools, the president of the hockey federation must lobby for the construction of ice rinks, the head of the basketball federation does everything to make basketball arenas appear in the country. If I hadn't done that, my colleagues in the Ukrainian Football Association would have criticized me. Numerous inspections that have already taken place in our country did not find any violations in either the UAF or its subsidiaries. We are always open to any regulatory authorities. And I never tire of repeating - the more we are checked, the better. I am sure that if violations were found in us, everyone would already know about it.

Photo of UAF press service

By the way, there are those who say that nothing is being built in our country. I can offer such "specialists" to get acquainted with the information that we already have in the database. We set a goal to digitize all our football, and already now we have about a thousand addresses of sites built in recent years, with GPS coordinates.

Today our children have the opportunity to practice in the fields and playgrounds of good quality, and this gives us the opportunity to look forward with optimism.

Together with UEFA, we launched a UEFA GROW pilot project on the development of grassroots football in three regions - Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Dnipropetrovsk. According to UEFA, it is the appearance of playgrounds and fields with modern coverage that stimulates children to play football. And now we are seeing an impressive increase in the number of children in football and the so-called people involved. These are statistics collected by UEFA. By the way, after analyzing these data, as well as the number of venues and stadiums, we set ourselves the task of significantly increasing the number of girls who play football. In the development of women's football we see the huge potential of our country!

By building football fields, we are not only increasing the number of children playing football. There will be a chain reaction - a child who plays football will definitely ask his parents to take him to the stadium. And this will automatically increase the attendance, which is now at a low level, even during Premier League matches.

Photo of UAF press service

In recent years we have talked a lot about Iceland, where the construction of infrastructure has led to the football boom. The situation is similar in Finland. And we are developing the infrastructure at random, and now we are filling the database with a comparison of the number of fields, children involved in them and the availability of trainers with relevant qualifications in the region. All this, I am sure, will allow us to manage our football even more effectively.

- It turns out that the construction of a plant for the production of synthetic coatings, in which you are constantly accused by your enemies, in this situation — absolutely reasonable decision. By the way, several former members of the executive committee unanimously voted for him at the UAF Congress, who are now for some reason criticizing the construction of this enterprise. But it is absolutely clear: to buy a synthetic coating abroad for so many fields and sites is a difficult task ...

- Moreover, when deciding to build the FFU Production plant, we understood that it should produce high-quality, the best coating in the world that can withstand intense loads. It is clear that in this case the price of this coating will be different from cheap counterparts. Earlier in Ukraine, sites with cheap synthetics have already been built. Both budget money and UEFA money were used. And where are they?

I suggest going through the regions and finding at least one active platform, built according to the program that operated in the 2000s. I'm not talking about the size of these buildings, which could not be used for games, even the smallest players. These were not mini-playgrounds, but micro-playgrounds measuring 15 by 24! And the coating on them became unusable in two or three years! At the same time, FFU Production guarantees its coverage for eight years.

Photo of UAF press service

During the five years of my UAF leadership, we have not taken a single hryvnia from the budget of Ukraine. I emphasize - not a single hryvnia! Federations and associations of other sports are financed from the budget of Ukraine, but not ours. And at the same time we finance the training and participation in competitions of more than 20 national teams. In addition, the activities of UAF are audited every year by the world-famous company Ernst & Young. It is one of the most reputable companies in this field. They check us very carefully, because their reputation is at stake. For us, the positive conclusions of world-class professionals - additional confidence and prestige! By the way, before our team came to the UAF leadership, European companies were not involved in the audit of the association.    

So, for construction of platforms money from the budget was allocated. But they do not join the Ukrainian Football Association, as our opponents try to say. They are distributed by regions, and everything is decided on the ground - where to build, how to build, who to build, from whom to buy coverage for these fields…

The fact that we built a plant for our money, according to the decision of the delegates of the UAF Congress, which belongs to our association and not to an offshore company or any individual, is correct! And we bought him the most advanced equipment in the world just because we want to work for the future. Not for a year or two, but for 10-15-20 years. No one forbids buying coatings from another manufacturer. But we want to give a choice. And in a few years, everyone will see even more clearly what the difference is between cheap coating and that produced by the FFU Production plant.

While the plant was being built, we built several full-size fields under the UEFA Hat-Trick program - in Berdyansk, Dnipro, Poltava, Vyshneve near Kyiv ... We bought coatings abroad and made sure that it was not a way out of our volumes. It had to be its own manufacturer, from which you can ask about quality. And to whom in eight-ten years it will be possible to address on a question of replacement of a covering.

Photo of UAF press service

FFU Production is owned by UAF, but it conducts its own business and participates in tenders on a general basis. During all this time, its structures received the right to build 66 sites in Kyiv. All of them have been handed over and are now in operation. By the way, after all 66 sites were built, about 14% of the savings were returned to the state budget. Can anyone name similar examples?

We are currently clarifying the information, but about 30% of sites in the country are covered with synthetic coatings made at the plant "FFU Production". These sites themselves were built by a variety of contractors, who were selected on site. Other facilities use coatings from other manufacturers. I know that many people already regret that they gave up the idea to buy our coverage. But here they can only blame themselves. By the way, the German company Polytan, the technology of which we produce coatings, recently, after inspecting the plant "FFU Production", extended the license agreement for another six years.

- You have been a member of the Verkhovna Rada for several consecutive convocations, but this year you refused to participate in the elections. Do not regret your decision now?

- This decision was made by me immediately after the elections to the UEFA Executive Committee, in February 2019. I understood how much responsibility fell on my shoulders, and I was simply afraid to let down my fellow UEFA national association heads who had expressed such confidence in me in the Rome elections. So I decided to focus on football. And now, to tell the truth, I do not regret.

Even working in the Verkhovna Rada, I have always supported not only football but also sports initiatives. In particular, this is a legislative initiative that helped create effective tools to combat contractual matches - the current law "On Prevention of Corruption Offenses on the Results of Official Sports Competitions." By the way, associations of other countries are actively interested in our experience in developing a regulatory framework for combating corruption in football and serious practical developments in this matter, which the Ukrainian Football Association has gained over the past two years.

In fact, this was confirmed by the first international forum dedicated to solving the problem of match fixing, which was held at our initiative in the House of Football and brought together experts from many European countries. Another important bill of my co-authorship is "On Patronage in Sports", which was adopted in the first reading.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

A number of bills passed by the Verkhovna Rada in preparation for the UEFA Champions League final in 2018 are worth mentioning separately. Thanks to these documents, we were able to organize the finals of the most prestigious club tournaments of the world for men and women at the highest level, which was noted by UEFA President Alexander Cheferin.   

But back to this year's success of the national team. Right now we are all enjoying ourselves, literally living on the success of the team of Andriy Shevchenko, who made a brilliant breakthrough at Euro 2020. I will tell you one story that could have significantly affected our performance during the qualifying tournament.

When we learned the results of the draw for the Euro 2020 selection, Andriy Shevchenko immediately said that we should play the home match with Serbia only in Lviv! But under one condition - the lawn at Arena Lviv needs to be replaced. The old lawn, which was viscous, soft, catastrophically did not fit the current style of play of the national team of Ukraine. Some players of the national team called the old lawn a garden…

After listening to the wishes of the mentor, we immediately got involved in the work. Not only was it necessary to find an opportunity to finance the works in the state-owned stadium, but also to do it promptly, since it took time for the grass to take root. As a result, we coped, and I confess, I was happy and proud that on the new lawn the Ukrainian national team in brilliant style won the most important match in the national team of Serbia - 5: 0having one of the best matches in its history!

The national team should rightly share that victory with the head of the Football Federation of the Lviv region Oleksandr Shevchenko and specialists who were directly involved in the preparation of the lawn. After all, if the work of a huge number of people was not coordinated, the match with the Serbs could not have taken place in Lviv, not become so memorable, not have such a positive result ...

- Speaking about the performance of the national team of Ukraine in the selection of Euro 2020 and remembering the past year, we can not say about the "Moraes case", which the UAF had to go through in the disciplinary bodies of UEFA. We know that your speeches during the meetings, in which, in particular, you explained to the referees the moral aspects of Moraes' decision to play for the Ukrainian national team at a difficult time for our country, played a serious role…

- Do not exaggerate my role, it was a good teamwork! 

Of course, I would like to say "many thanks" to those who from our country conducted subversive work against all Ukrainian football. After all, we could have lost four points, and even if we had reached Euro 2020 in such a situation, we could have found ourselves, for example, in a company with Germany and France. And they might not get there at all! Who knows what it would be like… I have no offense, only misunderstanding. How can the interests of the national team be sacrificed to please personal ambitions?

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

After all, if we lost the "Moraes case", it would have a negative impact on the players. How? Now we can only assume. Representatives of Portugal and Luxembourg almost openly said that they had received information about Moraes from Ukraine, and they only tried to use it. But thanks to our qualified legal team, everything ended well.

Of course, such situations, dirty information attacks distract from constructive actions on football development, take away a lot of forces. On the other hand, thanks to the opponents who keep us in shape.

- Replacing the lawn at the Lviv Arena, winning the Moraes case - agree, without them there could be no exit to the Euro. At least, these events became part of the chain that led to a clear victory of the Ukrainian national team in the selection.

- I would not say so, because the main merit in our entry into the Euro belongs to the players and coaching staff of Andriy Shevchenko. But I would also like to thank not only the qualified team of lawyers and specialists who worked at Arena Lviv for this success. The warmest words are due to the players themselves and all representatives of the coaching and administrative staff, leaders and coaches of clubs that train national team players. And it's not just about the national team. This applies to all football teams that defend the honor of Ukraine in the world. We all do a common cause!

"We are not standing still in the development of football. Now UAF is preparing a real revolution in women's football "

- At the end of 2019, permission came to fully use the VAR system in the championship of Ukraine ...

- When two years ago I proposed the idea of ​​introducing VAR, I had to explain a lot why VAR is needed. And lately, mostly answering the question of how much longer to wait for its introduction. Indeed, we received a response from FIFA and IFAB that we have successfully passed the stage of training and implementation of the video replay system in Ukraine. And in the first matches of the second part of the season we will be able to use VAR technology. A lot of work has been done in this case as well, and I am grateful to everyone who is involved. This is a difficult project, but we, the Ukrainian Football Association, found funding for it, because we understood that without VAR we can stay on the sidelines of European football.

Today VAR in Ukraine is already a reality. And this is not only prestige, but also the entry of our football to a new level.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

In the development of football in the country, we do not stall. Now, for example, we are planning a real revolution in women's football. We have come close to deciding that professional clubs will be licensed as of season 2021/2022, provided that there is a women's or girls team in their structure. In the world, there are often cases where 40-50 thousand spectators gather for women's teams. And although our women's football and futsal have some success, the potential in this area of ​​football is very great! In addition, we are also looking forward to reforming the U-21 tournament, the DFL system.

System work gives its results. That is why I am grateful to everyone who develops Ukrainian football, invests in it not only money, but also heart and soul! These are presidents of professional clubs, patrons who can't live without football…

We are accustomed to the fact that Dynamo and Shakhtar regularly take part in European Cups. Zorya, Oleksandriya and Vorskla have played in the group stage of the Europa League in recent seasons. This shows other teams that nothing is impossible. I know that Dnipro-1 will have very serious tasks now. I would like to return to the elite of teams from recognized football centers - for example, from Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Odessa ... I am sure that our club football will soon return to its former positions.

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- What do you expect from the next year, 2020?

- At the end of 2018, I confess, I thought it was hard to imagine a better year - we held successful Champions League finals, for which we received positive feedback from UEFA and fans, the national team of Ukraine won its League of Nations ahead of schedule and won the right to be in the next draw. companies of the strongest teams on the continent. But now 2019 is coming to an end, and the emotions are even stronger - we became world champions among U-20 teams, won the Euro 2020 qualifying group, ahead of European champions. It would seem that could be better? And ahead of us is Euro 2020. Everyone is already convinced that Andriy Shevchenko's team is able to pleasantly surprise its fans. I would very much like the next year, 2020, for Ukrainian football, for all those who are not indifferent to it, to be even more successful than the current one!