On June 12 Ukrainian clubs’ owners will gather in Kyiv to discuss the 2014/15 UPL.
According to Ihor Surkis not only the schedule, but also number of participants is of great importance.
- It’s not only about the schedule. I want to hear from Premier League whom I must offend with my vote if they decide to scale back the number of participants.
We can leave only the richest clubs, but what about the sports principle, according to which FC Olimpik Donetsk deserved the right to perform in the UPL?
If they want to reduce the number of participants they must inform everyone about that beforehand.
- Which date of the new season start do you consider to be the best one – July 26 or August 9?
- It should be discussed. I also think every club must have two arenas considering the situation in the country. For example if Dynamo will have to face Shakhtar in Donetsk in the first round, but situation is the city will be inappropriate the match can be played in Kyiv given that the second round fixture will be held at Donbas Arena. Still Shakhtar can’t play every autumn match away! In this situation they can use the stadium in Cherkasy, Sumy or Kharkiv.
In spring we postponed matches as the situation was tough in Kyiv and Kharkiv, but eventually everything calmed down and we had the most tolerant part of the season in contemporary history. Our sport has turned into a powerful uniting factor. That’s why we can’t postpone the start of the new season.
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- In the second part of the last season you let those clubs, which couldn’t feature at their home arenas play at Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi…
- I’m also ready to do that next season. I’ve informed the Football Federation of Ukraine about that. I also have nothing against sharing the NSC Olimpiyskyi if it’s necessary.
Ukrainian clubs must support each other in any situation. For example it was decided to hold the Ukrainian Cup final in Poltava in the nick of time, but the city and the direction of the Stadium named after Olexiy Butovskyi arranged everything on the highest possible level.
- Several months ago Dynamo Stadium was in the epicenter of revolution. How did you manage to repair it within such a short period of time?
- First of all it is the result of negotiations with people, who considered that their requirements weren’t fulfilled completely. The decisive argument was the fact that we were waiting for a lot of kids at the stadium on June 1. They were going to lay flowers at the monument to Valeriy Lobanovskyi and we wanted this event to take place in a peaceful atmosphere.
I managed to evoke a response from people and I’m very thankful to them. Moreover they helped us to clean the territory in front of the arena. I also want to thank the president of Ukraine for standing by his promise and repairing the infrastructure.
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- There are less than three weeks left till the UPL participants’ meeting. Have you already discussed the new season issues with any of your colleagues?
- I have, but still regulations of the new league are unclear considering that the number of teams can be reduced. Some say we should have three or four rounds, some – that we should divide teams into two groups after two rounds.
There are a lot of nuances and we must discuss them via dialogue as it’s necessary to avoid conflicts.
- We eliminate clubs from Crimea automatically, but for example teams from breakaway region Prydnistrovia perform in Moldavian league…
- In my opinion Crimean clubs must perform in Ukrainian league. Being on the occupied territory doesn’t change the fact that they are registered in the Football Federation of Ukraine. International society doesn’t recognize Crime as the territory of Russia, so FIFA and UEFA won’t let FC Sevastopol and SC Tavria Simferopol join the Russian league.
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- Don’t you think that Ukrainian and Russian clubs must be prevented from facing each other in euro cups like Armenian and Azerbaijanian or Russian and Georgian?
- If UEFA renders such decision I’ll accept it. Still I think that bad peace is better than good fight and dialogue is better than war.
- You’ve stated that players haven’t addressed to you with requests to let them join other teams. Still there are a lot of transfer rumors as for Jeremain Lens, Miguel and Aleksandar Dragovic…
- I want to calm supporters down: we aren’t going to part from our key performers. Today I do my best to let players and coaching staff realize that they won’t face any cataclysms again and to give them confidence.
Our task is to save the squad, but it doesn’t mean that talent scouts have stopped working. If Serhiy Rebrov has a desire to enforce a couple of positions I won’t object. The thing is that not everybody will be willing to go to Ukraine considering circumstances.
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- You’ve told that you want Dynamo performers, who feature for other teams on loan, to join the club at least during the training camp…
- That Serhiy Rebrov’s initiative. He offered to prolong the contract with Olexandr Shovkovskyi and Artem Kravets, insisted on return of Vitaliy Buialskyi and Serhiy Liulka. Rebrov also counts upon Serhiy Rybalka though we have real transfer offers for him.
- Will Denys Boiko return to Dynamo?
- I’ve let FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk sign him. I think we have enough high profile goalkeepers.
- Will AS Saint-Etienne sign Benoit Tremoulinas?
- French side must decide that by July, but I think everything will become clear within ten days as I face their representatives.
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- You’ve also informed that Serhiy Rebrov will get a new assistant…
- It’s not even improbable that he’ll have two assistants. As far as I understand Rebrov has negotiations with candidates.
* photo by V. Rasner
