MOSCOW, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Former Soviet Union striker Nikita Simonyan, now aged 83, was appointed acting president of the Russian FA (RFU) on Tuesday, replacing Vitaly Mutko.

Sports Minister Mutko was forced to resign after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev demanded last month that all government officials in charge of national sports bodies should be replaced by professional personnel.

Simonyan will keep the job until Feb. 3 when the RFU general assembly elects a new president, with Sergei Kapkov, associate of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, and ex-Zenit St Petersburg president Sergei Fursenko front runners for the position.

(Reporting by Gennady Fyodorov; editing by Ken Ferris) To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

((Reuters Messaging: gennady.fyodorov.reuters.com@reuters.net; For the new Reuters sports blog Left Field go to: http://blogs.reuters.com/sport/))

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