MOSCOW, September 19 – The Russian Football Union (RFU) has marked a lifelong ban from sports for the former head of Dynamo Bryansk, Valery Korneev, who was previously punished for forgery of documents, according to the organization’s official website.

The decision was made at a meeting of the RFU executive committee bureau. Instead of a lifelong disqualification, Korneev was given a conditional suspension from football for a period of five years. This way he can return to football activities immediately.

Bryansk Dynamo and the team manager were punished for providing knowingly false information to the Football National League in 2020 regarding the number of football players infected with coronavirus. Then it was revealed that players who passed positive tests for COVID-19 took part in matches for the Bryansk club.

In January 2021, three points were deducted from Dynamo, then playing in the First League championship, and the club was also fined a total of 1.6 million rubles. Korneev was banned from football for life, and the club’s head coach Alexander Gorbachev was disqualified for one year.