Five years of new achievements in the war

06.03.2020 15:20

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Five years ago, on March 6, 2015, at the XVII Congress of the National Association, Andriy Pavelko was elected President by an absolute majority of votes (122 votes in favor out of 137 delegates present).

In the time that has passed, the new management team that Andriy Pavelko has formed after his election has done much to make us all proud of Ukrainian football. At least in February 2019, at the UEFA Congress in Rome, Andrew Pavelko was elected to the UEFA Executive Committee. So it can be said that his work and that of his team led by UAF has been recognized by the European football community.

"I would like to thank once again our legendary Golden Ball winners Oleg Blokhin, Igor Belanov, Andriy Shevchenko, as well as the chairman of the NOC of Ukraine Serhiy Bubka, who flew to Rome 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, "- now recalls the president of the Ukrainian Football Association Andriy Pavelko.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

And among the decisions made by the leadership of the Ukrainian Football Association over the past five years, the following should be singled out.  

The program of reconstruction of football infrastructure in Ukraine is introduced. A plant for the production of modern synthetic coatings was built near Kyiv to implement the Marshall Football Plan at the expense of the UAF.

"When deciding to build the FFU Production plant, we understood that it must produce a high-quality, better 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?

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 by Pavlo Kubanov

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 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 preliminary data of regional associations, we had more than 2019 fields with synthetic coating, built in 75. Our initiatives pushed the state to start implementing a large-scale program for the construction of sites.

Unfortunately, due to a dirty PR campaign against UAF for several years, the pace of construction has fallen slightly. But together with the initiative of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in 2020 to reconstruct or build 100 stadiums by the end of next year, we can already have in Ukraine almost 200 fields with modern coverage. Agree, even for our huge country it is already a worthy indicator », - the president of UAF Andrey Pavelko considers.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Reforming the competition system and supporting professional clubs. Cthe system we had in professional football five years ago - with contract matches, sometimes - with the arbitrariness of referees, with the lack of football infrastructure, which no one really ever played - had no future.  

 "We keep our football at a fairly high level despite the extremely difficult situation in the country. 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 that we will 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.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

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 the prerequisites for this number to increase. For two years in a row, there is at least one team in each region of Ukraine that has the status of a professional. And this is the top 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, "said the President of the UAF.

Destruction of shadow schemes of financing Ukrainian football, refusal to use offshore schemes, return to the national association of offshore companies of commercial rights.

"I have repeatedly spoken about openness and transparency in the activities of the Ukrainian Football Association. All payments we make are completely transparent. 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 particular, in December last year, we paid the team of Alexander Petrakov, who won the U-20 World Cup, one million dollars in prize money. 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

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, UAF's activities 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 joined the UAF leadership, European companies were not involved in the audit of the association, "Andriy Pavelko said.

A decisive fight against contractual matches in Ukrainian football at all levels.

"At one time, working in the Verkhovna Rada, I always supported not only football but also sports initiatives. In particular, it is a legislative initiative that helped create effective tools to combat contractual matches - the current law "On the prevention of the impact 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 in recent years.

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In fact, this was confirmed by the first international forum dedicated to solving the problem of match fixing, which on our initiative took place in the capital's Football House in the past and brought together specialists from many European countries, "the UAF President reminded.

Appointment of the head coach of the national team of Ukraine Andriy Shevchenko and popularization of the main team of the country in all regions.

"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 was 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.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

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.

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. Last year it was like that in all five cities of Ukraine, where the national team played. This is the first time the national team has had such a wide geography in one year! Zaporozhye became the eighth city to host the national team during its existence. And we are not going to stop there!

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I will note that 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! ” - said Andriy Pavelko.

The 2018 finals of the Women's and Men's Champions League in Kiev.

"The football holidays of the UEFA Champions Cup final in Kyiv have introduced Europe and the world to modern Ukraine. The positive image of the country among the football community, among other things, also contributes to further processes of European integration.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Experts unanimously noted the high level of organization of the finals, compliance with all the requirements set by UEFA. Then everyone saw the coordinated cooperation of the UAF, all services, public authorities and local authorities. And after that we received high marks for the level of finals from UEFA and personally from Alexander Cheferin. 

Thousands of fans from all over the world were able to enjoy the hospitable atmosphere that prevailed in Kyiv and Ukraine during the finals. And we have all demonstrated Ukraine's readiness to hold matches of the highest international level in the future. In general, this event will remain in the history of Ukraine as a bright holiday that contributed to the promotion of football in our country among children and youth and Ukraine as a sports and hospitable country around the world, "- now recalls Andrew Pavelko.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Ukraine became the 15th of the 55 European associations to implement the system VAR.

“When I came up with the idea of ​​introducing VAR two years ago, I had to explain a lot about why it was needed. And lately, I've mostly been answering the question of how much longer to wait for its introduction. We have come a long way, having received the appropriate permits for the implementation of VAR from FIFA and IFAB. And from the first matches of the second part of the season we use technology.

To make this a reality, a great deal of work has been done and I am grateful to everyone who is involved in this. This is not a difficult project, but it is the Ukrainian Football Association that has found the funding for it, as we understand that without VAR we can stay on the sidelines of European football.

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Today VAR in Ukraine is already a reality. And this is not only prestige, but also the emergence of our football to a new level, "- said the head of the UAF.

"It is five years since the football community of our country entrusted me with the leadership of the Ukrainian Football Association," said Andriy Pavelko. - It was an extremely interesting period of development, implementation of innovative solutions and reforms, cleansing the organization of gray financial schemes and the fight against contract matches, a time of important social projects and the development of grassroots football, support for our Heroes and new historical achievements in the international arena. And I am very grateful to the whole team and each individual UAF employee for your professionalism and fruitful cooperation! 

But our plans for the future are no less interesting. Of course, this year's main priority is the preparation and performances of the main team in the finals of Euro 2020 and in the elite division of the League of Nations. Also this year we plan to start realizing the long-held dream of many generations of football players - the construction of a modern base for national teams. Next, VAR technology covers all UPL matches and completely eradicates the shameful practice of contract matches in Ukraine.

In general, the next seasons, in particular, 2021/2022, important decisions on which were made at a meeting of the UAF Executive Committee on March 5, will be a turning point for all Ukrainian football. This is the transformation of the championship of youth teams, and new conditions for the development of women's club football, and the long-awaited return of the UPL format to 16 participants. Many of these and other decisions five years ago seemed like a dream, but now they are becoming our common achievements. I am proud of the large and friendly UAF team and our regional associations, cooperation with associate members and reliable partners, with whom we work closely and achieve success for the new victories of Ukrainian football, for you, dear fans! "