MOSCOW (AP) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko will no longer have governmental responsibility for the World Cup, the latest soccer-related role he has left amid scrutiny over his involvement in a state-sponsored doping scheme.
Mutko quit as both head of the World Cup organizing committee and Russian Football Union last month but had maintained he would continue to be involved in planning for the June 14-July 15 tournament.
FIFA confirmed Tuesday that another deputy minister, Arkadiy Dvorkovich, had replaced Mutko as chairman of the local organizing committee (LOC). Dvorkovich’s media team told the TASS news agency that he would now be the “coordinator from the government” on the World Cup.
Former Moscow laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov told The Associated Press last month that Mutko issued orders to cover up doping in soccer.
