Andy Potts

Sergei Fursenko, former president of Zenit St. Petersburg, was elected president of the Russian Football Union on Wednesday.

He won a landslide victory over rival Alisher Aminov in a vote at the football union's conference in Moscow.

Before the election took place, a third candidate, Sergei Kuzmin, pulled out and declared his support for Fursenko's bid immediately after presenting his own proposals. Last month Fursenko's biggest rival, Sergei Kapkov of the National Football Academy, also withdrew from the race, saying that "influential people" had told him not to run.

Fursenko replaces the country's sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, at the head of Russian football - and immediately faces a tough decision over the future of national team coach Guus Hiddink.

The Dutchman's contract - worth an estimated 7 million euros a year - expires in July, and it is widely believed that the new president is unhappy with Hiddink's failure to take Russia into the World Cup Finals in South Africa this summer.

Hiddink is expected to meet his new boss for the first time on Sunday when the draw for the Euro 2012 qualifying groups is held in Warsaw.

The National Football Academy, backed by Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of English club Chelsea, had been contributing half of Hiddink's salary, but stopped paying after Kapkov dropped out of the football union vote.

Gazprom, which bankrolls Zenit and sponsors German side Schalke 04, stepped in to meet the cost, but it is unclear whether they will continue to do so in the longer term. Fursenko worked as director general of Gazprom subsidiary Lentransgaz before becoming head of National Media Group in 2008.

Hiddink himself has been linked with a wide range of jobs since Russia's defeat in Slovenia last November, but the closure of the European transfer window on Monday means it is unlikely he will take on another club role before the summer.

However, media reports in Turkey on Wednesday claim he could be installed as coach of the Turkish national team on Monday.