The seemingly unshakable chair of the president of the Football Federation of Ukraine, Hryhoriy Surkis, may soon be seriously rocked. The change of power in Ukraine is slowly reaching even the most influential and moneyed sports federations. After the abolition of the State Committee for Sports and statements that the president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, may soon be re-elected, the orange wave has also rolled up to the "tsar" of Ukraine's main football authority, Hryhoriy Surkis.

And although there is no direct talk yet of removing Surkis from the FFU, certain hints about this have already appeared from the country's top officials.

Thus, on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Mykola Tomenko hinted that a change of leadership in some federations may be possible in the near future. Answering the question of whether you will go to the Dynamo Kyiv football match, where former President Kuchma will be sitting in the box, Tomenko noted the following: "Well, now we have a new ministry – of youth and sports. I think public organizations and federations will consult and study, and maybe there will be re-elections of the federation president? But when the national team plays and when Ukraine's honor is defended – of course we will (be at the stadium)."

It is clear that in the context of changing the Federation's head, it was specifically Surkis who was meant. However, despite the wishes of the authorities, changing the head of the FFU has its own consistent steps. Firstly, according to the statute of the FFU, which is a public organization, the president of this body is elected by the FFU congress for a 4-year term and is accountable only to the FFU Congress, which also convenes once every four years. This is stated in Article 22 of the FFU statute.

At the moment, there are several legal options for removing Surkis from the FFU, if such a possibility is stipulated. The simplest is if Surkis himself decides that it is time for him to leave his chair. Then the FFU Congress is convened, which places on the agenda the question of the president's early termination of his powers and votes.

In 2001, after a series of critical statements by Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov addressed to Hryhoriy Surkis and his presence in the FFU post, the latter convened an extraordinary FFU Congress at which he raised the question of the early termination of his powers. True, Hryhoriy Mykhailovych was not released then. Although, at that time it was all just a farce. On the eve of the voting, loyal people of Ukraine's main footballer walked around the hotels where the participants of the FFU Congress were staying and offered to sign in support of the "offended" Hryhoriy Surkis, who, in fact, is a "well-wisher" of Ukrainian football.

Another option for removing Surkis from the FFU presidency is, again, the convening of an extraordinary Congress, but already by decision of an absolute majority of the Council members, or by written demand of 2/3 of the FFU members, as stated in Article 14 of the FFU statute.

In other words, such a development of events is the most likely. Although, it is worth recalling that Hryhoriy Surkis was only re-elected president of the FFU in July last year for the next four years by a unanimous decision of the participants of the FFU Congress.

In addition, it is worth noting that Surkis is a member of the UEFA Executive Committee and is one of the close friends of the president of this organization, Lennart Johansson, who even celebrated his birthday in Kyiv. And Surkis also has fairly warm relations with FIFA President Joseph Blatter…