The resumption of the Ukrainian season with the European Cup matches of Shakhtar and Dnipro-1, as well as loud developments in the framework of criminal investigations into the activities of UAF president Andriy Pavelek and his henchmen, were in the center of attention of the domestic media.
Compliments to Shakhtar, faith in Dnipro-1
On Thursday, the long-awaited resumption of the season for Ukrainian teams took place - for now, for those two who continue to fight in European tournaments. Shakhtar defeated the French Rennes in the first match of the UEFA Europa League in Warsaw, and Dnipro-1 lost to AEK Cyprus at the same stage of the UEFA Conference League in Larnaca.
The general mood of the Ukrainian football media following the results of these matches is quite predictable: taking into account all the circumstances, Shakhtar achieved an almost excellent result, while more was expected from the Dnipro team, although a minimal defeat on the road does not nullify all hopes for the current UPL leader.
Shakhtar looked decent, the game with Rennes was even. "Rennes" should be in a good playing tone, but I did not notice the advantage of the opponent in at least one way. 2-1 is a very good score. With this, it is much better to go away to such a rival as Rennes. "Miners", I think, have a significant handicap in the confrontation with the French team, and this handicap is no longer even in the score, but in the game shown by Shakhtar, — notes former player of the Ukrainian national team Oleg Shelaev (Footboom1.com, 16.02.23).
On the other hand, according to the expert, the people of Dnipro could not reach this stage in the same good condition. Shelaev believes that only some Dnipro-1 football players showed a quality game, and AEK had the advantage - both in general and in the moments near the Dnipro team's goal.
"Such an account allows you to count on success. 0:1 is not 0:3... It is not the score that worries, but the game of the Dnipros. In order to reach the next round, it is necessary to show brighter football. It will not be possible to radically improve "physics" in a week. Therefore, it will be necessary to press more, keep the ball mainly in the opponent's half of the field, press all the time and keep the intensity of the game high, not allowing many of AEK's aged footballers to come to their senses. It will be possible to do all this, and a chance will appear", - adds Shelaev (Footboom1.com, 16.02.23).
"Shakhtar" almost perfectly played the first official match after a long break. Such an advantage does not promise an easy life in France. Miners are guaranteed absolutely nothing. However, it will be even more difficult for Rennes than today. To the need to play back should be added the loss of another important player. Bourjot is not just the captain, but also the team's best assist (8) this season. Already on February 23, we will check whether pragmatism has become a new feature of Jovichevich's team, or whether today was an action for one evening", - writes the site "Football 24" (Football24.ua, 16.02.23).
In the opinion of columnist Valery Vasylenko, "Shakhtar" did not disappoint in the least. The team played very competently and skillfully considering its current state and ambitions. And, of course, one should take into account the very high level of the opponent, who recently beat PSG itself in the French championship.
"Jovicevich will say after the game that his team could have won with a bigger difference in the score. And he is right in his own way. But, in my opinion, in this case, you can't anger the Almighty: the Donetsk nationals could have scored the third goal, but they could have missed the second as well. So all's well that ends well. After all, even a minimal victory is a victory. Especially since now the price of a goal scored by "Rennes" on the road is not as high as it used to be., Vasylenko emphasized (Sport.ua, 17.02.23).
As for Dnipro-1, the ex-midfielder of the Ukrainian national team Serhiy Nagornyak especially noted that the Ukrainian club conceded to its opponents during the standard provisions. Mainly because many of his players are ridiculously shorter and less powerful than their opponents.
"The impression is not very positive. This team is already like a bone in our throat: Ukrainian clubs have played 5 games against it recently, and there is no way we can beat them. For some reason, I believed that the people of Dnipro would score their ball. But you see how: they played a combination and did not score, and immediately got a goal into their own net from a pass from the wing", - concluded Nagornyak (Fanday.net, 17.02.23).
At the same time, analyzing the game between Shakhtar and Dnipro-1, many experts looked at everything through the prism of the actions of the most likely candidates for the national team of Ukraine. Of course, the impressions of the players of "Dnipro-1" were not too positive (although not without exceptions), but most of the miners showed themselves from the best side.
Among others, it is worth singling out Shakhtar's left defender Bohdan Mykhailichenko, whose actions impressed a number of experts. For example, Oleg Fedorchuk, a well-known coach in the past, categorically stated that with such a game, a pupil of the Dynamo school and a former player of "Zorya" is simply obliged to be in the Ukrainian national team at the next meeting.
"The credit for the first goal goes even more to Mykhailichenko than to Kryskiv. By the end of the game, Bohdan was in very good shape. According to this game, Mykhailichenko is a national team player. The most effective player was Stepanenko. In this match, he played simply "wow", cemented the defense, kept the thread of the game and could even score with a header. And, of course, the name of Trubin. There was a killer moment when he saved the team. That was really the key moment. If the French fought back quickly, there would be few chances.", - adds Fedorchuk (Fanday.net, 17.02.23).
In this connection, it must be stated that at the moment it is up to experts, journalists and fans to analyze and "select" the players of the national team of Ukraine. Under a normal situation, representatives of the coaching staff of the national team should have been present at the matches between Shakhtar and Dnipro-1, but neither the head coach nor his assistants have yet been appointed.
The Ukrainian mass media has been sounding the alarm about this situation for more than a month, but the fact remains: approximately five weeks before the start, our national team remains "neglected". Who is to blame for this? The opinion of the media and experts is unequivocal — the Ukrainian Football Association...
Rotan will take the team to London, will Rebrov come in the summer?
To say that the media criticizes the UAF, and especially its president Andrii Pavelko, because our national team - the only one among the EURO 2024 qualifiers - is still without a coach, is an understatement. And from the point of view, it is not only that the delay in the appointment of the coach of the blue and yellow has crossed all limits, but also that the options considered by the UAF, according to the media, are very far from acceptable.
"The national team of Ukraine will hold its first official match in 2023 in a month and a half. The position of the head coach is now in chaos, with no one leading the team. And Pavelka, who is supposed to deal with this issue, the prosecutor's office wants to suspend for two months from the position of the head of the UAF through the court. Although he had more than enough time to negotiate and appoint a coach.
To think that it is not bad at all, it is enough to know one fact: the national team of Ukraine is the only national team that still remains without a coach for the qualification of Euro-2024. There is a little more than a month left before its start. The entire information field surrounding the search for a new coach for the Ukrainian national team unquestionably confirms that it is complete chaos and uncertainty.", - states journalist Oleg Magliovaniy (Ua.tribuna.com, 17.02.23).
No more or less official information regarding terms, candidates, and in general any prospects for the appointment of the coach of the Ukrainian national team from UAF has not yet been received. Judging by insiders, now the main option for UAF is to appoint Ruslan Rotan, currently the head coach of "Alexandria" and the youth national team of Ukraine, as an acting coach until Serhii Rebrov stops working with "Al-Ain".
In particular, the YouTube channel "TaToTake" reports that Pavelko already called "Alexandria" with this question - and the club responded.
"Vasyl Kardash, Oleksandr Melashchenko, Vitaly Reva and Oleksiy Chistyakov will replace Rotan in the U21 national team of Ukraine for this period. Rotan's staff in the national team will include Serhii Kravchenko and Yevhen Gres, and possibly Yevhen Baryshnikov from Dnipro-1. And Volodymyr Yezerskyi, Volodymyr Tymenko and Volodymyr Tomilenko will work in "Olexandria" ("TaToTake", 17.02.23).
Thus, if what is reported by numerous mass media happens, then a unique situation will arise in football, when one coach leads not only two national teams - the national team and the youth team - but also the club. It is clear that such an option caused a real barrage of criticism from the media and experts.
"I don't know if there are examples in history when a person who already holds two other football positions: youth coach and club coach can become a national team coach. And if the UAF has a plan "A", "B" and "C", when will these plans be implemented? Where is the communication? How much is left until the first match of the national team?", - ex-player of the national team of Ukraine Yevhen Levchenko is indignant (Football24.ua, 18.02.23).
"On the date of the matches of the national team, the young woman must pass her last training before the European Championship-2023. This is the last chance to gather the players and watch them in action. There is a chance to go to the 2024 Olympics. Why touch Rotany and break all plans for the training of the youth team?", - wonders the well-known journalist Viktor Vatsko ("Vatsko Live", 13.02.23).
Moreover, according to Vatsk, any acting head coach of the Ukrainian national team before Rebrov's arrival will not have an impact on her game in this situation.
"Yarmolenko will be the head coach of the team. As the players agree among themselves, they will play. Ideas in the UAF are not put forward by football people. Taxi drivers and Ostapy Benders sit in the leadership. Or is it an FSB cell in general. Otherwise you can't explain", - emphasizes Watzko ("Vatsko Live", 13.02.23).
"Rotan is not sitting without a job now, he already leads the youth team, which will also be at the Euros in the summer, and he also became the coach of "Olexandria". Maybe Pavelko wants to appoint him as acting head of the UAF if the current head is removed from his post?
As long as the national team is without a head coach, the person whose immediate task is to find him or at least to appoint the responsible ones who will do it in an adequate time, is engaged in completely different things - washing his name and fighting with the prosecutor's office, the police and journalists.
Because of all this, there is a feeling that UAF is not doing what it should, working for the interests of its chairman, and not for Ukrainian football.", Oleg Maglyovaniy notes (Ua.tribuna.com, 17.02.23).
It is worth reminding that in the selection group of EURO-2024, our team's opponents were Italy and England. At the same time, the two best teams from the group go directly to the final stage of the European Championship, and the chances of the "backup path" in the form of playoffs, where four tickets to Germany will be drawn, have greatly deteriorated in the national team of Ukraine due to the failure in League of Nations...
Pavelek's suspension and searches at the UAF
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian mass media continue to widely cover the course of criminal investigations concerning the president of UAF Pavelek and his closest accomplices.
In particular, public activist and journalist Kostyantyn Andriyuk reported in his Telegram channel that SBU employees searched the House of Football. The law enforcement officers became interested in the activities of the UAF accounting department. According to Andriyuk, one of the employees of the organization was taken out of the UAF premises in handcuffs. Searches were conducted in the office of the chief accountant (Sport.24tv.ua, 16.02.23).
Also, according to media reports, the first vice-president of the UAF, Vadym Kostyuchenko, was searched.
"He is involved in the case regarding the construction of a base for the national teams of Ukraine. The construction of the UAF training complex in Knyazhychy near Kyiv was announced as part of the "Great Construction" project under the patronage of the President of Ukraine. The SBU is interested in the documents regarding the purchase of land for the construction of a training complex", - notes journalist Artem Zhilinskyi (Ukrfootball.ua, 16.02.23).
However, the loudest news of the past week was the suspension of Andriy Pavelek and General Secretary of the UAF Yury Zapisotskyi from their posts for one month by the Pechersk Court of the city of Kyiv.
"We remind you that this is a matter of building a factory for the production of artificial grass and purchasing equipment for it through an offshore intermediary. Both officials are suspects and are on bail of almost twenty million hryvnias for two. The law enforcement officers justified their demand for the suspension of the officials by the fact that both Pavelko and Zapisotsky violate previous decisions and influence the witnesses in the case. And they also use their powers to put pressure on their subordinates.", says Football Hub (Footballhub.com.ua, 16.02.23).
At the same time, the court's decision has not yet entered into legal force, because the judge indicated in it that this will happen only after considering the appeal already submitted by the UAF. However, the mass media immediately drew attention to the contradiction of this court decision.
"For example, Oleh Novikov, a journalist of the Slovo i Dilo publication, who specializes in judicial investigations. In his tweet, he drew attention to the fact that the decisions on the removal of the suspect from office should actually take effect immediately, without amendment for a possible appeal., - emphasizes the "Tribune" website (Ua.tribuna.com, 17.02.23).
It should be noted that even before the relevant court decision, the UAF made a statement in which it traditionally accused law enforcement agencies of interfering in the activities of the national football association.
"The attempt to illegally remove the leadership of the UAF due to the decision of the Pechersk Court right now and for two months has very specific goals. The main one of them is to deprive Ukraine of a place in the UEFA Executive Committee, in which, obviously, "country 404" or collaborators within our state may be interested.
In addition, these two months are, without exaggeration, fateful in matters of finalizing the preparation of the joint application of Ukraine, Spain and Portugal to host the 2030 World Cup. The specified work continues directly under the leadership of the President of the UAF Andrii Pavelek and with the participation of the General Secretary of the UAF Yuriy Zapisotskyi, which the enemy knows for sure." (Facebook.com, 15.02.23).
At the same time, the UAF does not yet explain how the court and the employees of the prosecutor's office, the police and the SBU, who within the framework of their legal powers are investigating corruption in the UAF, could implement these "specific goals", considering the fact that Pavelko is already officially registered with UEFA as a candidate for re-election to the Executive Committee.
And FIFA's decision regarding the hosts of the 2030 World Cup will be tentatively adopted as early as May 2024 - at the same time, no significant measures within the framework of the application period, not to mention any inspections or provision of guarantees from Ukraine (for obvious reasons), are not planned in the near future. .
That is why, judging by the public's zero reaction to these accusations, UAF failed to "buy" the football community of Ukraine. The UAF's constant threats that UEFA and FIFA would suspend Ukraine from international football if the investigation against Pavelek and his team continued did not cause a stir in the media.
"Pavelko is engaged in PR, fighting the law and the media... And the UAF and the people on Pavelko's payroll stubbornly continue to call all claims slander and make him almost the main threat to Russia in football, a target for its special services and a useless savior of Ukrainian football All this looks frankly ridiculous, but very telling.”, - notes columnist Oleg Magliovaniy (Ua.tribuna.com, 17.02.23).
By the way, the topic of "struggle with the media" of Pavelka and the UAF has been repeatedly raised by the Ukrainian press. The fact that the head of the national football association has long avoided open communication with the press, and his subordinates constantly try to censor the work of the media, which continue to expose his wrongdoing, has long been no secret.
Recently, Pavelko has resorted to a new technique - he is suing the media with a demand to refute allegedly inaccurate information about his corrupt activities. In particular, it is already known about the relevant lawsuits against the journalist Kostianin Andriyuk and the Football Hub portal in the person of 1+1 Internet LLC.
The editors of Football Hub reported that the head of the UAF expressed complaints about the material "The corrupt champion. Everything about the embezzlement of football money in Andriy Pavelek's UAF", which lists all criminal cases investigated by the National Police, the State Security Bureau and NABU based on the facts of the illegal activities of Andriy Pavelek's team in UAF. The article contains the numbers of each of the cases, when and by whom the case was initiated, the essence of the case and other official information.
"We assume that such a maximally complete and clear list of all cases could really cause dissatisfaction in Andrii Pavelko, as it comprehensively and in detail demonstrates the level of corruption in the ranks of the UAF. We consider such a move by the head of the UAF as a direct and direct pressure on freedom of speech, on the mass media and on specific journalists who expose the corrupt activities of the UAF and its representatives.
And the most important thing is that in this way Andrii Pavelko and his team are trying to whitewash themselves and create an image of honest, fair and noble officials who are slandered. It seems that, in the opinion of the president of the UAF, the criminal cases in which he and his wards appear, as well as the preventive measures chosen by the court, are all media activities.
In response, we declare that no lawsuits will stop the Football Hub editors in their mission to provide honest and truthful information and cover the state of affairs in Ukrainian football, even if the country's football leadership does not like it.", says the official Football Hub statement on this matter (Footballhub.com.ua, 14.02.23).
In turn, the UAF responded to accusations of pressure on independent media with a statement saying that "the informational materials contested by the lawyers of the UAF contain categorical statements, in particular, in the form of accusations against the association and its management of crimes, responsibility for which is provided for by the Criminal Code of Ukraine" (Facebook.com, 15.02.23).
"In view of this, the public statements of some mass media regarding claims of alleged pressure on them are absolutely baseless. According to the current legislation of Ukraine, everyone has the right to protect their honor, dignity and reputation. And the realization of this right by the UAF takes place exclusively within the limits of the legal field", - added in the UAF (Facebook.com, 15.02.23).
It is noteworthy that the UAF and Pavelko filed a lawsuit against the media for "categorical statements, in particular in the form of accusations", which they regard as defamation, but at the same time they themselves repeatedly publicly - but without any evidence - claimed that all investigations were against them are underhanded, clearly implying that law enforcement and the judiciary are corrupt...
Meanwhile, the mass media remind that currently various law enforcement agencies — the National Police, the SBI, NABU and the Prosecutor General's Office — are investigating at least 12 criminal cases based on the facts of the illegal activities of Pavelka's team in the UAF.
"And there is something to investigate. Experts and investigators estimate the amount of damage caused by football corruptors to the budget of Ukraine and international organizations (UEFA and FIFA) at approximately 550 million hryvnias. Pavelka's team is accused of corruption (inflating the cost of construction works), taking money offshore, colluding with NABU detectives, and even obstructing the legal activities of journalists.", - summarizes columnist Kyrylo Stadnichenko (Vesti.ua, 18.02.23).
Other aspects of football life
Investigation of the president of the French Football Federation. In France, the scandal related to the alleged illegal activities of the president of the local football association, Noel Le Gre, continues. Previously, the Ukrainian mass media repeatedly drew parallels between the so-called cases of Pavelko and Le Gre, because both head the federations of their countries, hold high international positions (Pavelko is a member of the UEFA Executive Committee, Le Gre is a member of the FIFA Council on behalf of UEFA) and are involved in investigations by law enforcement agencies.
The difference is that Le Gre is accused not of corruption, but of inappropriate behavior and harassment. The Paris prosecutor's office is conducting the investigation, which has already prepared a corresponding report and submitted it to the French Minister of Sports.
According to Radio France, investigators concluded that Le Gre's actions were of a repeated nature and could humiliate the dignity of the victims with the help of vulgar remarks, in particular, when he was clearly in a state of alcohol intoxication (GFFN, 15.02.23).
The conclusions of this report deserve special attention, in which the investigators note the following:
"Mr Le Gre no longer has the necessary legitimacy to manage and represent French football, given his behavior towards women, public statements and failures in the management of the federation" (GFFN, 15.02.23).
It should be emphasized that, unlike the UAF, the French Football Federation (FFF) has never made statements about "interference by law enforcement agencies in the activities of the national football association" and has not appealed to FIFA and UEFA, actually threatening all French football on behalf of these organizations with international disqualification.
The fact is that with the aim of protecting the reputation of the FFF, its executive committee almost immediately removed Le Gre, who, in addition to everything else, was involved in a scandal with insulting remarks directed at Zinedine Zidane. Therefore, experts have no doubt that there will be no more place for Le Gre in football, and with a high probability he will have to answer to the law.
"Shakhtar" is ready to continue fighting with FIFA. Last week, Shakhtar General Director Serhiy Palkin made a loud statement, accusing FIFA of the fact that its decision on the contracts of legionnaires is leading Ukrainian clubs to bankruptcy.
"FIFA does not care about Ukrainian football. They are not supporting us, they are just trying to show someone, I don't know who, that they are number one and no one will influence them and no one will control them. FIFA puts itself above the law. We need to change that. Not only for the sake of Shakhtar Donetsk, not only for the sake of Ukrainian clubs. We need to change the situation for the sake of all the clubs in the world", Palkin notes (Sport.ua, 15.02.23).
According to him, if the situation continues, it will be difficult for Shakhtar to survive, but the club hopes for a positive verdict from the European Commission and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, where the miners are challenging the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne to uphold the FIFA rule that allows foreign players to be suspended contracts with Ukrainian clubs and transfer to others without compensation.
Palkin emphasizes that the club will "go to the end", although it will continue to seek an understanding with FIFA.
"FIFA does not want to talk. We need to make a fair decision about FIFA. We are not trying to fight just to fight. We need to show that we are one family, and if one member of the family has problems, everyone should not destroy, but support, especially FIFA. So we continue to fight and continue to prove that the decision made by FIFA was a big, big mistake and they were absolutely wrong.", Palkin summarizes (Sport.ua, 15.02.23).
"Dynamo" continues to help the ZSU. Last week, the media widely covered not only the final stage of Dynamo Kyiv's preparations for the resumption of the season, but also the continuation of the humanitarian mission of the country's most popular football club.
"From the Dynamo stadium to the front to the military. Another truck with food products, thanks to the efforts of the Surkis Brothers Foundation, went to the soldiers defending Ukraine from the Russian invaders. Military special forces will receive 15 tons of fast food. In general, the people of Dynamo sent more than 600 tons of humanitarian aid to Ukrainian fighters", says the story of "TSN" (Tsn.ua, 14.02.23).
"The Charitable Foundation of the Surkis Brothers is constantly looking for an opportunity for such shipments to arrive systematically from day to day. These are different cargoes: such cargoes, and dry solders and technical products, dressing materials... Everything that is possible! Everything that can be received today as humanitarian aid and brought to Ukraine - all this is being done and will be done.", - the "Details" of the first vice-president of "Dynamo" Vitaly Sivkov are quoted (Details.ua, 14.02.23).
Orest LELEKA
