Unity and decision: RFU president re-elected in the absence of competition

The conference of the Russian Football Union (RFU) extended the powers of the current president of the organization Alexander Dyukov for four years. The decision was unanimous, he had no competitors in the election. The RFU executive committee was elected for the same term, which did not change much in its composition. Among its new members are two representatives of influential RPL clubs: Dmitry Gafin, chairman of the board of directors of Dynamo Moscow, and Artashes Arutyunyants, president of FC Rostov.

Why Alexander Dyukov was re-elected

It has been known since the end of December, when the deadline for nominations for the post of RFU president expired, that Dyukov would have no rivals. The businessman, chairman of the board of Gazpromneft, suited the vast majority of soccer players. First of all, the ability to attract large financial resources, which the RFU did not have under any of the previous presidents.

In many ways, this helped Russian soccer avoid a crisis after February 2022, when our clubs and national teams were suspended from international competitions, and some legionnaires left the country, having received FIFA's permission to unilaterally suspend their contracts.

Thus, thanks to the lobbying efforts of the current RFU leadership, the Russian Premier League (RPL) managed to sign major agreements for the period from 2022 to 2026 on the realization of television rights and interaction with bookmakers. These were all agreed before the SWO in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions, but the RFU has since managed to avoid renegotiating the contracts.

It is expected that the agreement will be renewed in 2026 on at least the same terms. Thanks to these contracts, even the club, which occupies the last, 16th place in the RPL, receives more than 300 million rubles. This allows to significantly reduce the threat of bankruptcy of teams of the top echelon of Russian soccer, the last of which happened in 2021 with FC Tambov.

The institution of national teams has been preserved. The national team regularly holds friendly matches, and home matches are held with high attendance. The Russian youth national team went on two major tours to South America, where they played against representatives of the leading club academies in Brazil and Uruguay.

- Under Dyukov, the RFU budget has grown to 17 billion rubles - this has never happened before in the history of our soccer," Vyacheslav Koloskov, the honorary president of the RFU, said in a conversation with Izvestia. - Moreover, these funds are distributed not only for the national team, as it was before, but also for various soccer development programs, regional federations, development of women's soccer, soccer for the disabled, beach soccer, futsal. Much is being done to develop children's and youth direction, fantastic help is provided to veteran soccer. Personally, after the collapse of the USSR, I have not seen such a large-scale infusion into these not the most visible to the general public areas.

In his speech at the RFU conference, Alexander Dyukov stated that one of the main goals for the new term was to return to the international arena. But at the same time he noted the successful functioning of the national team institute even in the conditions of sanctions.

- In the previous four years we increased the number of national teams, - said Dyukov. - At the moment, the structure of the national teams corresponds to the best international practices. During the period of suspension we kept the game practice. We played 211 matches in 2024. Despite the friendly nature of the games, we see that the national team is interesting and needed by the fans. The average coverage of the matches amounted to more than 3.7 million people. The average attendance of matches showed 90% of the stadium capacity. We will continue to work on returning our national teams to official international competitions.

The majority of votes among the delegates of the conference fall on the representatives of regional federations. All of them for the third time supported Dyukov, who has been in charge of the RFU since February 2019.

- "I believe that the Russian Federation has very good prospects for Alexander Valerievich's new four-year term," Alexander Startsev, president of the Moscow Football Federation, told Izvestia. - In his speech, Dyukov spoke about his plans for the coming years, including those concerning the progress of regional soccer. Personally, I am pleased that in all the previous years of the current RFU leadership, all regions, including the Moscow Football Federation, received feedback and full assistance in terms of soccer competitions and other structural aspects. And I would not even focus on the financial issue - the RFU is doing a lot to improve the level of regional competitions, interest in them, as well as to raise their status in Russia.

Alexander Dyukov announced plans for the development of soccer

Dyukov named his goal for the new term as increasing the number of soccer players in the country. According to him, soccer continues to be the main sport in Russia.

- Soccer makes a great contribution to achieving the goals of the state policy in sports, - emphasized the RFU president. - By 2030 it is necessary to ensure 70% of citizens' satisfaction with the conditions of sports activities. We plan to bring the number of people practicing to eight million. Positive effects from the development of soccer extend to other components of life. The task of the RFU is to create conditions for the development of soccer: sports reserve, mass, amateur and professional soccer.

According to Dyukov, in the next four years will continue to develop such projects as "Football to School", "Our Change". By 2028 it is necessary to reach 13 thousand active coaching licenses of UEFA and RFU, to involve 1.5 million women in soccer.

- 72% of the country's population is interested in soccer. This is comparable to the advanced world soccer powers. We have organized new events. For example, the Russian Cup match in a floating dock in Belokamenka. A series of mass events in honor of Football Day. We plan to include it in the calendar of professional holidays, - said Alexander Dyukov.

The new composition of the RFU Executive Committee

The new composition of the RFU Executive Committee - the body that makes most of the operational decisions - was also elected for four years. Among its new members are Dmitry Gafin, chairman of the board of directors of Dynamo Moscow, and Artashes Arutyunyants, president of FC Rostov.

- Alexander Valeryevich [Dyukov] presented a work plan for the new term," Dmitry Gafin told Izvestia. - 'We hope that all the plans will be realized, and as a result it will make Russian soccer stronger. And Dynamo is a legendary part of Russian soccer, so our club is also directly interested in the implementation of the ideas that the RFU president has outlined. As a member of the executive committee of the organization, I also intend to bring maximum benefit to our soccer.

In addition to Dyukov, Gafin and Arutyunyants, the RFU executive committee also included the RFU first vice-president Nikita Simonyan, RFL president Alexander Alaev, FNL president Nail Izmailov, heads of RPL clubs, representatives of regional federations and other soccer figures.