The former president of the UAF, Pavelko, is suspected of misappropriating 9.32 million euros from UEFA

The former president of the UAF, Pavelko, is suspected of misappropriating 9.32 million euros from UEFA

Former president of the Ukrainian Association of Football Andriy Pavelko is suspected by the National Police of criminal offenses, including possible misappropriation of funds.

This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

In the suspicion notice to Pavelko, it is stated that there may have been misappropriation of funds from the Ukrainian Football Federation from UEFA payments. According to the source, the former president of the UAF is suspected of committing a number of criminal offenses, including misappropriation, embezzlement of property, or seizing it through abuse of official position, as well as accusations of organizing the preparation and deliberate issuance of false official documents, committed by prior conspiracy of a group of individuals.

Pavelko headed the UAF since March 2015. According to the suspicion, in May of the same year, Pavelko intended to illegally seize funds belonging to the FFU and received from UEFA during 2015-2016 for the benefit of unidentified individuals.

As established by a forensic economic examination commission, the amount of damages caused to the FFU through the transfer of funds to the accounts of foreign companies amounts to 9.32 million euros. This concerns funds during the period from April 17, 2015, to December 1, 2016.

According to the source, at least 25 individuals were involved in the execution of the crimes. They prepared, signed, and certified with seals on behalf of officials of non-resident companies of Ukraine documents based on which payments were made and funds allocated by UEFA for the Ukrainian Football Federation were received into the accounts of enterprises. Among them are former UPL president Volodymyr Heninson, former UAF financial director Yevhenia Sahaidak, former general secretary of the organization Yuriy Zapisotskyi, as well as Kateryna Krasnokutska, Pavelko’s former assistant in the Verkhovna Rada.

In April 2025, at the congress of the Ukrainian Association of Football, the economic losses and lost benefits of the organization during Andriy Pavelko’s presidency were announced, amounting to approximately 1.7 billion hryvnias.