A former player of the Ukrainian football team appealed to a court in Lausanne against the deprivation of awards for life in Russia

Anatoly Tymoshchuk, the record holder for the number of games played for the Ukrainian national football team, appealed to the Sports Court of Arbitration in Lausanne to complain about the deprivation of his titles by the country’s football federation. In March 2022, the federation stripped him of three titles of the champion of Ukraine, three titles of the owner of the cup and one super cup and excluded him from the register of players of the national team because he continued to work in Russia after the February invasion of Ukraine.

44-year-old Tymoshchuk is a former linebacker for Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayern Munich and Zenit St. Petersburg, one of the most decorated players in the modern history of Ukrainian football. He works as an assistant to the head coach at “Zenith”. The Football Federation of Ukraine stated that by staying in St. Petersburg after the war and not publicly speaking out against it, he deliberately damaged the image of Ukrainian football.

“While the second former club of the Ukrainian, Bayern Munich, publishes statements and holds actions in support of Ukraine, Tymoshchuk continues to remain silent and work for the aggressor’s club [Зенит]”, the federation’s message said. He was banned for life from working in Ukrainian football and kept the top-level UEFA coaching license issued in the country, which allowed him to work in European clubs. In addition, the federation had to turn to the government with a recommendation that the athlete be denied state awards and called .

In January, Tymoshchuk lost an appeal to the Control and Disciplinary Committee of the Ukrainian Federation. The Sports Court in Lausanne is the last court that makes decisions on conflicts in sports. The message of the federation states that it is preparing its position on this issue for the court.

In March 2022, the deputies of Tymoshchuk’s native Lutsk awarded the athlete the title of honorary citizen of the city. He did not publicly comment on this and the loss of sports titles.

• In December, the Ukrainian mass media, with a link to the Russian website Sport24, published statements on behalf of Tymoshchuk, in which he stated that he does not comment on the war, because he believes that “not everything is clear-cut” about it. The original source later deleted the material, the Sports.ru site claimed that the athlete did not say such a thing.