The Ukrainian Football Federation’s Ethics and Fair Play Committee stripped Timoshuk of his professional coaching license on Friday, as well as all the awards and honors he received from the state as a football player, due to the fact that Timoshuk continued to work at Zenit after the complications of the situation between Russia and Ukraine.
Saint Petersburg said in an official statement: “Timushuk is a great professional who has a professional position in every country in which he has played as a player or worked as a coach. There is no doubt about his training qualifications, the same applies to his human qualities.”
“We believe that the decisions taken by the Ukrainian Football Federation’s Ethics and Fair Play Committee were not considered and are a sign of political manipulation.”
He concluded: “We also want to remind that football should remain away from politics and not be part of politics. Zenit is ready to defend the interests of its coach in (CAS).”
The 42-year-old holds the record for the most Ukrainian player to play in international matches (144 matches).
Timoshuk was one of the winners of the European Champions League with Bayern Munich in 2013, where he spent 4 years in the German League championship, as he previously played with the Zenit team, from 2007 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2015, which he returned to again in 2016 to work as an assistant Zenit coach.