The general director of Shakhtar Donetsk Serhiy Palkin criticized the International Football Federation (

FIFA

).

In his opinion, the decision to ban the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi from calling for peace at the 2022 World Cup final demonstrates the pro-Russian orientation of the organization.

He wrote about this on his

Facebook page

.

"The FIFA World Cup in Qatar once again showed the whole essence of FIFA - it is an openly pro-Russian organization that is not ashamed to support Russia, although it tries to do it covertly," he said.

According to Palkin, the Ukrainians could not "enjoy the atmosphere of a football celebration", because the organizers of the tournament did not allow them to go to Qatar.

"Back in October, the authorities of Qatar stopped allowing Ukrainians into their country. Our fans were not issued an entry permit and were not allowed to issue a Hayya Card - a personalized document that allows you to enter the matches of the World Cup. It was necessary to submit an application, but the decision was not adopted . While the Russians received the card in one day," he said.

The functionary reminded that the statement "sport is outside of politics" is false.

"Football is out of politics? But war is not politics, it is the death of hundreds of thousands of people, destroyed homes and destinies. But during the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA never drew the world's attention to the genocide of Ukrainians. FIFA puts Ukrainian clubs on the verge of survival, thinking only about the agents' earnings, disrespecting Ukrainian fans, creating obstacles for them to watch matches, and at the first opportunity will play along with Russia," he writes.

Palkin called for the transformation of the main football body of the world.

"FIFA should be transformed from a purely political one into a more professional organization - when the basis of decision-making should be primarily values, and not the political and economic interests of individual countries and their representatives," he emphasized.

We will remind that FIFA refused to show the address of the Ukrainian president to the whole world with a message of peace, calling it "too political".

This caused a 

sharp reaction in the Office of the President

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