February 3 – The new president of the Russian Football Union (RFU) will be elected in Moscow today in a vote that will decide the future of national team coach Guus Hiddink (pictured).
Former Zenit St. Petersburg President Sergei Fursenko, the director general of the JSC Lentransgaz, a subsidiary of Gazprom, is the clear favorite to replace Vitaly Mutko, who stepped down last November after Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said that the organisation should not be led by a political figure.
Mutko has served as Sport, Tourism and Youth Minister in the Government since May 2008.
If Fursenko comes out on top – as is expected – in the vote to be decided by RFU delegates, his close links with Gazprom mean the energy giant is likely to take over from Chelsea’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich as the main source of funding for Russia’s top football body.
Abramovich’s National Football Academy stopped paying Hiddink’s wages at the beginning of this year.
Fursenko’s rivals are Sergei Kuzmin, the vice-president of lower-league club Volga FK, and the chief of the fund for the development of football, Alisher Aminiov.
National Football Academy head Sergei Kapkov earlier pulled out of the race, saying he had been told to withdraw by “respected people”.
While Kapkov was expected to offer a genuine challenge to Fursenko, the majority of experts believe that nothing now stands in the way of his victory in today’s polls.
Fursenko is reportedly unwilling to continue paying Hiddink wages in excess of $5 million (£3 million) a year.
The popular Dutchman has been linked with a number of clubs, including Liverpool and Juventus, since Russia failed to make the 2010 World Cup, but has said he will wait until the RFU elects a new President before deciding on his future.
Despite his failure to get Russia through the qualifiers, Hiddink was earlier offered a new contract up until Euro 2012.
His current deal runs out this summer.
Former Spartak Moscow player Yevgeny Lovchev, who is President and head coach of the club, claimed that both Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, backed Fursenko.
He said: ”We have a vertical power structure and the authorities appoint Petersburg people everywhere.
“The President and the Prime Minster don’t play football, but both understand the significance of the country’s number one sport.”
Fursenko’s brother, Andrei, is Russia’s Minister of Education and Science and is close to Putin.
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