The first and main contender for the post of new president of the RFU appeared

On Thursday, a number of regional organizations nominated the candidacy of the chairman of the board of directors of the St. Petersburg Zenit Alexander Dyukov to the post of president of the Russian Football Union (RFU).

His candidacy, in particular, was supported by the Football Federation of St. Petersburg, Tomsk, Kaluga, Tatarstan, Mordovia, the Republic of Bashkortostan, Stavropol Territory, Perm Territory, Rostov and Tyumen regions.

For the nomination of the candidate during the election campaign, the votes of five football organizations - members of the RFU are needed. Such powerful support makes Dyukov the main candidate for a vacant post.

In addition to the post of chairman of the board of directors of St. Petersburg Zenit, Dyukov is the head of Gazprom-Neft. In addition, he heads the RFU Committee of Football Development Programs. From 2008 to 2017, he was the president of Zenit, during which time the club became the champion of Russia three times, and also won the UEFA Cup and Super Cup.

The RFU report and election conference will be held on February 22, 2019. The application campaign will end on January 13.

The new president will replace Vitaly Mutko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation in this post. Before the elections, the head of the Russian Football Premier League (Premier League) Sergey Prygkin was appointed to the acting president of the organization.