Ukraine harbors hopes of being chosen as a World Cup co-host in 2030 – despite or perhaps because of Russia's war of aggression.

The President of the Ukrainian Football Association UAF, Andriy Pawelko, presented the plans for a bid together with Spain and Portugal at the beginning of October.

However, the UAF is now lamenting a serious setback to those ambitions.

Alexander Davydov

sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

The reason: Pavelko was arrested.

He is accused by the Ukrainian judiciary of misappropriating international aid funds.

According to reports in the Ukrainian media, the Kiev district court Pechersk sentenced Pavelko to two months in prison.

Pawelko was allowed to remain free on bail of the equivalent of around 260,000 euros - the sum was provided by the UAF.

According to the Ukrainian online portal Football Hub, ten cases are being investigated against Pavelko.

The Secretary General of the UAF, Yuriy Zapisotskyi, has also come under the scrutiny of the judiciary.

As the English newspaper "Guardian" reports, he is accused of having embezzled almost 700,000 euros together with Pawelko.

Perennial investigation

The allegations against Pavelko and Zapisotskyj are the result of a multi-year investigation into, among other things, alleged overpayments by the UAF to the company SDT from the United Arab Emirates, which had worked with the association in the construction of Ukraine's first artificial turf factory.

Denys Bugaj, the federation's lawyer, told Ukrainian media that although there had been large payments to SDT, the money had been claimed back by the football federation.

It did not appear on the UAF's balance sheet because it was paid through a third company, Softex, to former Italian referee Pierluigi Collina, who is a creditor.

Bugaj denied all allegations: "The investigation states that there is a misappropriation of UAF funds.

That is not true.

The funds in question were a payment for services rendered to the UAF by the famous football referee Pierluigi Collina.

There was evidence of this, but that evidence was not handed over to the court, it was hidden.”

Another investigation is underway against the 42-year-old Zapisotskyj, in which the whereabouts of payments in the millions from the European football association UEFA to the Ukrainian association are to be clarified.

However, the UAF wants nothing to do with criminal behavior.

The association claimed via Facebook that the reason for the current investigation was something else: “Representatives of the pro-Russian forces in Ukraine have initiated criminal proceedings against the association because of its active anti-Russian position and the demand for the exclusion of Russian teams from UEFA competitions and FIFA. The immediate goal, however, according to the UAF is clear: to prevent Ukraine from hosting the 2030 World Cup.