The Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) has called for Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, the country's most-capped player, to be stripped of all state awards and honorary titles for remaining silent on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Tymoshchuk, who made 144 appearances for Ukraine, is currently an assistant coach at Zenit St Petersburg and has not publicly commented on the conflict since it began over two weeks ago.
In a statement, the UAF's Ethics and Fair Play Committee accused Tymoshchuk of violating the Code of Ethics and Fair Play by continuing to work for a club based in the aggressor nation. The committee noted that while other Ukrainian internationals, such as Yaroslav Rakitskiy, have spoken out or requested release from their Russian clubs, Tymoshchuk has remained silent and active in his role at Zenit.
The UAF has proposed several sanctions, including revoking Tymoshchuk's UAF pro-level coaching license, requesting that public authorities deprive him of all state awards and honorary titles, and removing him from the official register of UAF national team players. The association also seeks to strip him of domestic titles he won in Ukraine.
Fellow Ukrainian international Ruslan Malinovskyi publicly criticised Tymoshchuk, stating on Twitter that he can no longer be considered a legend of Ukrainian football. Malinovskyi questioned Tymoshchuk's lack of action, calling it 'not right' and asserting that he is '100% the case that he’s no longer (or ever will be) a legend of Ukraine football.'
Tymoshchuk, a former captain of the national team, has won numerous titles including the Ukrainian Premier League, German Bundesliga, Russian Premier League, UEFA Champions League, and UEFA Super Cup. He played for Zenit from 2009-2013 and 2015-2017 before joining the coaching staff in 2017.
