The Russian Premier League (RPL) has nominated Alexander Dyukov as its candidate for the post of the president of the Russian Football Union (RFU), RPL’s press service announced on Thursday.

Axar.az reports citing TASS.

Dyukov, 51, is the director general of Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, and is also the chair of the Board of Directors of Zenit St. Petersburg football club.

He also served at the president of Zenit St. Petersburg FC between 2008 and 2017. During this period, the football club from Russia’s second largest city won three national football championships (2010, 2012, 2015), took two Russia Cups (2010, 2016) and also grabbed the 2008 UEFA Cup and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup.

Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko announced in mid-December at the RFU Executive Committee’s session in Moscow his decision to resign as the RFU president. Sergei Pryadkin, the president of the Russian Premier League, was appointed the acting RFU president until the Union’s presidential election on February 22.

RPL President Pryadkin said later that he had no plans of submitting his candidacy for the RFU presidential post and would serve as the acting president until the election in February.

In late December, the football federations of Bashkortostan, the Perm Region, Tatarstan, Mordovia and the Tomsk Region also nominated Dyukov as their candidate for the post of the RFU president.