January 14 – Nine candidates will stand for eight seats in the UEFA executive committee, with Russia relinquishing their spot in the FIFA Council, the European governing body announced on Thursday.
Alexey Sorokin will vacate his seat in the FIFA Council. He had succeeded Vitaly Mutko, whose was blocked from maintaining his seat over a conflict of interest as Russian sports minister, but Sorokin will not stand in the new UEFA executive committee elections.
Alexander Dyukov, however, will. The president of the Russian Football Union (RFU) is a chief executive at oil behemoth Gazprom, a title sponsor of the Champions League. He served as president of Zenit St Petersburg between 2008 and 2017 as well. In 2019, he was elected president of the RFU.
Dyukov is among four first-time candidates. Mehdi Bayat of Belgium, Gabriele Gravina of Italy and Just Spee of the Netherlands are the other three.
Peter Peters, the vice president of the German FA (DFB), and Romanian Football Federation (FRF) president Razvan Burleanu will stand unopposed, alongside Dejan Savicevic and Georgios Koumas, for election to the powerful FIFA Council. A seat on the council comes with an annual stipend of $250000.
David Martin of Northern Ireland, Michael Mulraney of Scotland and Kieran O’Connor of Wales are contesting the FIFA vice presidency reserved for British members.
Wales’ Laura McAllister has challenged Italy’s Evelina Christillin for the European female member position on the FIFA Council.
The elections will take place at the UEFA congress in April in Montreux.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1731824187labto1731824187ofdlr1731824187owedi1731824187sni@o1731824187fni1731824187