A former high-ranking official of the Ukrainian Football Federation has been detained in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, on suspicion of embezzling 295 million hryvnias, attorney General Ruslan Kravchenko said, Liga.Net reports.
"He had been on the run from Ukrainian justice for years. But an international manhunt and effective cooperation with foreign partners paid off," the attorney general said.
The Office of the Prosecutor General has already initiated extradition proceedings. A letter has been sent to the competent authorities of the Slovak Republic stating the intention to request the extradition of this individual and to seek his provisional detention, Kravchenko said.
Based on the circumstances of the case, this appears to refer to Andriy Pavelko, the former president of the Ukrainian Association of Football (the decision to rename the Football Federation as the UAF was adopted in 2019. — Ed.). Security Service of Ukraine issued a warrant for his arrest in November 2025. Prior to that, it had been reported that Pavelko had allegedly left the country using a forged disability certificate.
In November 2022, Pavelko was notified that he was suspected of embezzlement. According to the investigation, he organized a scheme to siphon off nearly 295 million hryvnias from the Federation through commercial entities under his control.
"To this end, fictitious contracts were drawn up for the supply of seafood, premium teas, coffee, and electrical equipment—all of which existed only on paper. The money was siphoned off, and the Ukrainian Football Federation and its regional branches suffered losses amounting to millions," the prosecutor general said.
Follow us on Telegram
t.me/apanewsaz
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on TikTok
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on X
