A candidate for the presidency of the Premier League believes that now it is a "

Contender for the post of president of the Ukrainian Premier League Oleg Smalyychuk made a pre-election statement. He is ready for a year not to receive money for his work in this position, and also believes that Ukrainian football is on the edge of the abyss and is obliged to unite in order to prevent a disaster.

“You know, it’s historically somehow happened that the clubs first choose the president to lead their football, and then they begin to lead the president himself. And the president of UPL turns into such a political figure who walks, as they say, wipes his pants and receives a salary, "

" None of you, dear club owners and presidents, I will not ask for a penny. But in return, I ask you to give me the right to meet with you at the meeting with you. An unpopular position that you probably won’t really like. "

\? " Not the fact that we are at the bottom, but already very close to him. Perhaps it will happen that there will be nothing to save. My position is simple: the time of political agreements and schematoses should recede into the past. I repeat: football in our country should be like a religion, not a toy in the hands of the oligarchs "

" And recently, I notice that I am already ashamed to introduce myself as a manager from Ukraine, a football country. I’m not even talking about the quality or design of the game of our clubs. Take, for example, the fact that, probably, 8 out of 10 of our football players that we educate in our academies, in our clubs, in European championships do not withstand any competition, no criticism. Returning to Ukraine in a warm bath "

" I guess I'm nobody to reconcile conflicting parties.

If you yourself do not reconcile and understand that we have already played enough to the point that football may not even be in this country, then you do not need either the president or the Premier League. I read the statute of this organization - with the help of political agreements, it turned into a fake. This is a simple scapegoat, not an organization. Either we will have a strong league with an independent president, or we are not interested in each other "

Ukrainian Premier League presidential election scheduled for May 25. In addition to Oleg Smalyichuk, Alexander Shevchenko and Mikhail Metreveli are applying for the post.