[...] the politically connected businessman comes with a raft of celebrity acquaintances, citing soccer greats Luis Figo, Fabio Cannavaro and Clarence Seedorf as character references as he runs for a seat on the UEFA executive committee. Boranbayev has long had business connections with Russian state gas company Gazprom, now a major UEFA sponsor, but denies using those connections to help his election campaign. Boranbayev became a well-known name in Kazakhstan when he ran KazRosGaz, a cross-border cooperation between Gazprom and the Kazakh national gas company, from 2006-14. [...] he has built a property and entertainment empire including luxury hotels, a shopping mall and a string of fitness clubs. "First of all, we have to raise a person who's worthy of our society," he said.