Oleh Sobutsky, head of the Veteran Football Association of Ukraine and President of Agribusiness, was unlawfully suspended from football activities for life, contrary to the decision of the Lausanne Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the rules of disciplinary sanctions that the Ukrainian Football Association could have been guided by.
Oleg SobutskyOn July 15, 2020, Sobutsky was accused of allegedly hitting the chief referee Yuri Ivanov after the match of the First League "Agribusiness" - "Minaj". Two days after the incident, the head of the UAF, Andrei Pavelko, made a statement that a decision would be considered to ban Sobutsky for life from engaging in football activities of the president, and on July 23, as a result of the consideration of the case by the KGK, the UAF decided: to ban Sobutsky A.M. from any activity related to football , for life.
Sobutsky himself denied any accusations against him and appealed to the Lausanne Court of Arbitration for Sport, which issued a verdict on August 25, reducing the period of disqualification for life suspension to five years.
The Executive Committee's latest decision reads as follows:
- instruct the administration of the Association to apply to the Association of Football Veterans of Ukraine on the implementation of the CAS decision in the case of Oleg Sobutsky;
- from AVFU, immediate measures should be taken to ban Sobutsky from carrying out any activity related to football for a period of five years.
The nuance is that one of the vice-presidents of the Veteran Football Association of Ukraine, who is also the first vice-president of the UAF, Anatoly Demyanenko decided to take on the authority to convene the AVFU executive committee and form its agenda, which contradicts the AVFU Charter, in which, after the termination of activities The powers of the President of the AVFU are automatically transferred to the first vice-president of the organization, which Demyanenko is not.
Sobutsky himself considers the current situation a raider takeover by the UAF of the Veteran Football Association of Ukraine.
“Mr. Pavelko is just taking revenge on me. When I say "Pavelko" I mean a whole structure called the UAF, because its head has now completely usurped power in his hands. This is the persecution of me personally and the raider seizure of the Veteran Football Association of Ukraine, which I have the honor to represent. In short, why this is happening - they definitely did not like the fact that the Court of Arbitration for Sport of Lausanne publicly humiliated them in a legal plane. I think everyone understands the difference between a lifetime ban on playing football and a 5-year term. It was a fabricated case against me. For a very long time, the UAF has been striving to appoint Anatoly Demyanenko as the head of the Veteran Football Association of Ukraine instead of me, first of all saying that they do not want to hold this position, but later everything fell into place.
Perhaps, in the depths of his soul, Pan Demyanenko did not want to, but there is Andrei Pavelko, who wants everything and everyone. Consequently, a whole campaign was organized against me. They took advantage of the moment and made a foundation for me. They fabricated a case against me at the Agrobusiness-Minay match and, as a result, they decided to deprive me of the opportunity to play football for life. After receiving the CAS documents, where my term was reduced to five years, the UAF cannot calm down. Now they are doing everything possible and impossible to put another person in charge of the AVFU instead of me. I understand why the persecution began against me. This is not a one time thing. I did not agree to sign documents on the relocation of the plant for the production of artificial fields to Kramatorsk. And from that time a campaign began to remove me from football. And the game with Minai was only an excuse for the UAF to remove me from all processes, ”said Sobutsky.
