PREVIEW

AC Milan and Ukraine legend Andriy Shevchenko has been elected as the new President of his country’s Football Association.
On January 25, Kyiv hosted the XXVI Congress of the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF). There, the former Ballon d'Or winner was named as the new president.

Shevchenko, who has been central to fundraising efforts during his country’s war with Russia via the UNITED24 charity, will focus on nine steps. These are transparency and digitalisation of the association's activities, development of national teams and their brands, collaboration with clubs, arbitration reform and specialist training, international cooperation, and the use of football for trauma recovery of Ukrainians.

"Ukrainian football should be mainstream and accessible, the national teams should be the pride of every Ukrainian, and the clubs should be strong and effective. We plan to implement the best international practices for the rapid development of Ukrainian football, and use football to overcome the traumas of war. A lot of work lies ahead," said Shevchenko.

The new UAF President noted that he plans to create a database of people involved in football and digitize all the association's activities. To do this, Shevchenko plans to cooperate with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

One of the challenges is the outflow of talented children from Ukraine. In his speech, Shevchenko emphasized that Croatia faced a similar situation in the 1990s, and the country successfully coped with it. He also mentioned that Zvonimir Boban, who participated in the creation of the football development program in Croatia, has already confirmed readiness to cooperate and exchange experience.

Jozef Kliment, UEFA's Advisor to the Director of National Associations, attended the UAF Congress online. In total, 94 delegates representing all permanent and associate members of the UAF took part in the Congress.

Remarkably, the football legend received 93 votes out of 94. The 94th vote being his own abstention. He takes office as President of the association for a five-year term.

Shevchenko first became known across Europe in the late 1990s as the star of an exciting Dynamo Kyiv team that beat Real Madrid on the way to the semi-finals of the Champions League. It was at AC Milan he confirmed his superstar status, winning Serie A, the Champions League, and the 2004 Ballon d’Or.