Vladimir Leonov confirmed as CEO for FC Rubin. Part 6

"I must inform you of the decisions made regarding the club life. Vladimir Aleksandrovich Leonov's nomination has been presented to the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board approved the nominee to fill the position of the CEO of FC Rubin. One of the first tasks assigned to Vladimir Aleksandrovich will be to complete the reforming of the club's structure. There is no need to introduce Vladimir Aleksandrovich, for the simple reason that we all remember well that this summer we had such a major event as the Universiade, with which Vladimir Aleksandrovich has a lot to do, therefore he is recognisable in the world of sports, not only at the local level but also at the federal one, which is important. The club's executive team and the Supervisory Board expect that Vladimir Aleksandrovich will be an ideal candidate for this position and will cope with the responsibilities that will be assigned to him. Apart from such a routine work as reorganisation of the club structure, which may seem a little bit boring to fans, we expect that Vladimir Aleksandrovich will be able to put his rich experience to good use for the development of fan relations, for which we are rightly criticised," said FC Rubin President, Valery Sorokin, to the club's press office.

"The recruitment of the head coach and managers, coaching staff for the boarding school and the Rubin youth football training facility is also underway. But I would not want to disclose information prematurely. As the club's executives will be taking relevant decisions, we will inform all those concerned, especially the fans, of new appointments. Please let me present you our new CEO," Sorokin added.

For his part, the new CEO of FC Rubin, Vladimir Leonov, said that his main goals are to manage fan relations, the marketing programme, and the new venue - the football stadium, where FC Rubin is expected to play in future, as well as legal issues related to the compliance to the football associations regulations, formation of the team - both the football one and the executive one. "All the traditions, the history of the club, all those best practices that the club already has, will be followed, of course. Also, thanks to some knowledge and experience, we will implement some innovations, we will try to make them as comfortable and convenient as possible for all the fans because there are many thousands of supporters. And today, of course, we want people to start attending football matches. We must develop our school, the school of Rubin FC so that it could make a name for itself and become famous for its stars, its growing generation, because it is one of the fundamental principles of the development of football and any sport."

Vladimir Leonov also promised that FC Rubin's executive team will be as media- and fan-oriented as possible: "We will do our best to inform our fans of all the changes that will be happening inside the club. Fans are the club's everything, they are number one. The club must show good work, the team must show good football. We'll do everything we can to achieve it."

Under the leadership of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Sport of Russia, the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Kazan Mayor's Office, Vladimir Leonov has been coordinating the preparations for the 27th Summer Universiade 2013 since the city's very bidding campaign. He's been heading the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate, which included more than 500 permanent staff and more than 4,000 people of temporary personnel during the Games. The work was carried out across 50 functional areas, ranging from management of the sports programme, through implementation of marketing projects, to promotion of the Games on a global scale. An exceptional performance of the Universiade Directorate and its chief executive was highly praised by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), international sports federations, and the leaders of Russia and Tatarstan.

Vladimir Leonov will officially take up his new role right after the New Year.

Meanwhile, the Supervisory Board of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate unanimously approved the nomination of Deputy Director General Azat Kadyrov to temporarily assume the position of the head of the organisation.