By David Gold
August 2 – Nikolai Tolstykh, the executive director of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), is set to become the new President of the Russian Football Union (RFU).
The RFU has been searching for a new President since the departure of Sergei Fursenko following Russia’s disappointing performance at the 2012 UEFA European Championship (scene from Russia’s defeat to Greece pictured below).
After being nominated, Vitaly Mutko, the Russian Sports Minister, told insideworldfootball last week that he would not stand for the post.
Mutko previously served as head of the RFU between 2005 and 2009, and has been particularly critical of some of the decisions made by Fursenko.
It is believed that the election on September 3 will see Tolstykh (pictured above) take the role, as he has the support of the Russian Government.
According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Tolstykh is sympathetic to some of Mutko’s criticisms regarding the running of Russian football
Chief among them being the new Russian football calendar, with the new league season now running from autumn to spring to bring Russia in line with other leading European leagues.
Tolstykh is also said to be supportive of Mutko’s wish to see the restriction on the number of foreigners in teams reduced back to six, after the RFU recently increased the quota to seven.
After Mutko’s withdrawal, Tolstykh faces three other nominees – Evgeny Lovchev, a former Soviet Union defender, Russian Premier League chief Sergei Pryadkin and politician Igor Lebedev – in the race to become the new President.
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