The Kyiv District Administrative Court left without action the lawsuit of the Kherson Regional Football Association against the Ministry of Justice bodies, by which the “footballers” wanted to change the head.
This is stated in the court ruling.
This concerns the association’s attempt to challenge the refusal of the state registrar of the Kyiv Interregional Department of the Ministry of Justice to enter changes into the Unified State Register (EDR).
The ruling does not specify which changes were blocked, but we can assume that it concerns the change of the head of the Kherson Regional Football Association.
In July 2025, former MP and Kherson Regional Council deputy Serhiy Khlan was elected as the head of the Kherson Regional Football Association. His first deputy became Andriy Gordeev, who currently lives in Ireland and is still listed in the register as the head of the NGO.
Serhiy Khlan has still not been entered into the register, so it can be assumed that he is the one bringing the lawsuit.
However, the story with the federation has been dragging on for quite some time.
At the beginning of 2025 information appeared that the head of the Kherson Regional Football Association became the former president of the Kherson club “Krystal”, Oleksiy Krucher, however later it became known that the association did not recognize the elections, and Krucher proclaimed himself the new head of the association independently.
After this, the Ukrainian Association of Football suspended HOAF’s membership. The association was given three months to “bring its activities into compliance with the requirements of the statutes and regulatory documents of the UAF and HOAF”.
So, perhaps, the conflict continues around these “elections” of Krucher.
In the autumn of 2025 the registrar twice refused to carry out registration actions, referring to a court injunction imposed in the course of another case. It was these decisions that the association tried to declare unlawful and to annul through the court.
Note that in September last year the Commercial Court of Odesa Oblast closed the proceedings concerning the case on the cancellation of provisional measures. These measures previously blocked any registration actions regarding the association, including changes of leadership or statutory documents. After their cancellation, in the opinion of the Kherson Regional Football Association, the state registrar had no legal grounds for refusal.
At that time the lawsuit was filed by the NGO “Skadovsk District Football Association”. It is controlled by Leonid Pasichnyk.
Note that since 2017 the head of the regional football association has been the former head of the Kherson Regional State Administration Andriy Gordeev. His close ties with the former head of the UAF Andriy Pavelko helped him obtain this position. They were both members of the parliamentary budget committee.
Then Gordeev effectively falsified documents and seized the Kherson association by raiding.