Years Team Spouse Kateryna Surkis | Preceded by post created Name Hryhoriy Surkis Siblings Ihor Surkis | |
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Children Svitlana Surkis, Viacheslav Surkis Parents Rimma Yakivna Surkis, Mikhail Davydovych Surkis | ||
Hryhoriy Surkis (Ukrainian: Григорій Суркіс; born September 4, 1949 in Odessa) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician, one of five vice-presidents of UEFA since 24 May 2013. Surkis was the president of Football Federation of Ukraine till September 2012.
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Biography
Hryhoriy was born to a Jewish family. His father Mikhail (Rakhmil) Davydovych Surkis was a military doctor, and his mother Rimma Yanivna Surkis was a sales specialist. He also has a brother Ihor Surkis. Surkis has an undergraduate diploma in mechanical engineering. At 22 he finished the Kyivan technological institute of food industry with a specialty in machines and apparatuses for food production. While in school, he worked as a senior engineer in material-technological logistics for Holovplodvynprom (Main directorate of wine industry) of Ukraine in 1971. From 1974 to 1988 he worked as a deputy-chief at "Kyivzhytlorembudmontazh" (Kiev-city municipal housing remodeling and construction company), foreman of the SRBU#1 in Kharkiv, and chief of logistics for RBU #3. Then and until 1991 he held a variety of a technical leadership positions at the Kyiv City Council such as a chief engineer, chief of department, and others.
From 1991 to 1993 Surkis became a general director of "Dynamo-Atlantic". From 1993 to 1998 he was the president of the Ukrainian industrial financial concern Slavutych and the FC Dynamo Kyiv, LLC. From 1998 until 2006 he was a peoples representative of Ukraine, and since 1998 he has been a member of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine.
He was the president of the PFL of Ukraine from 1996 to 2000. In 2000, he was elected as the president of Football Federation of Ukraine and was re-elected twice, but after serving his third term he did not participate in the presidential election of September 2012, but he was named "honorary president" in September 2012. He is a member of the Committee of National Associations FIFA since 2000. In 2006, he became a vice-president of NOC of Ukraine. Since 2007 he is a head of the Committee that deals with the beach soccer and "futzal". He is an ambassador of Ukraine to European Counsel in reference to sport, tolerantce, and fair game.
He was listed among the Top-100 most powerful people in Ukraine in 2004 (26th place) and 2005 (38th) in the Korrespondent newspaper. Surkis was a deputy in the III and IV convocations of Verkhovna Rada for the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), he was a leading figure in that party. In the 2006 election Surkis ran unsuccessfully for the Opposition Bloc "Ne Tak".
His brother Ihor Surkis is chairman of Dynamo Kyiv.
US visa ban
In 2004 Surkis was refused a visa to the United States due to corruption allegations in Ukraine.