Electrocatalysts containing cobalt and iron cations bounding to nitrogen atoms doped to carbon materials are considered to be promising for partial or complete replacement of platinum in conventional cathode catalysts. We report results of research comprising two main goals: (1) development and characterization of N-containing carbon support materials of two types: N-doped carbon nanofibers (NCNF) and N-containing amorphous carbons (NAC); (2) development of preparation procedures and characterization of electrocatalysts obtained by deposition of Co on the surface of these supports. For the preparation of NCNF the method of decomposition of C2H4-NH3 mixture on metal catalysts Ni-Cu-Al2O3, Fe-Cu-Al2O3 etc. at temperatures 550-675°C was used and samples were characterised by XRD, XPS, TEM and adsorption methods. Depending on preparation conditions nanofibers with an average pore diameter 5–19 nm and SBET 30 – 350 m2/g can be produced. TEM studies showed that NCNF have a fishbone type structure with a fiber diameter of 60-100 nm. The fibers are twisted into spirals with a higher N content - up to 7 wt. %. NAC materials were prepared by chemical and subsequent thermal treatment of various N-containing organic precursors, or their mixtures: o-nitroaniline, 8-oxyquinoline, benzotriazole, etc. The obtained products have N content in the range of 0.5-8 wt.%. The samples have a very high specific surface area (1000-3100 m2/g) and a large fraction of micropores - over 70%. The effect of the nature of the precursor and the preparation conditions on nitrogen content and NAC properties were studied. It was shown that the BET area and pore volume generally decrease and the N content increases with lowering of the temperature. The state of nitrogen species in N-doped carbon supports was studied by XPS. Two types of N are predominant with binding energies of 398.5 eV and 400.8 eV corresponding to pyridine-like N and bridgehead-type N incorporated into graphitic network, respectively. In addition a weak signal at 400.0 eV was observed in NAC samples, which may be assigned to amino or -CN groups. Cobalt catalysts were prepared by treatment of suspension of NCNF or NAC in water with cobalt acetate taken in quantity to provide 1.5% Co content in the catalyst, followed by water evaporation, drying and subsequent heat treatment in different atmospheres (Ar or NH3+H2+Ar) at temperatures 600 and 900°C. The study of the states of surface nitrogen atoms in the catalysts supported on NAC showed that there are three types of nitrogen atoms: pyridinic-type nitrogen atoms (398.6 eV to bridgehead-type N incorporated into graphitic network (400.9 eV) and nitrogen atoms in the composition of amino or -C≡N groups (400.0 eV). The XPS study in the Co 2p region showed the presence of signals belonging to Co2+ cations bound to nitrogen and to cobalt cations in surface cobalt oxides on metal cobalt particles. The catalyst activity of the prepared samples with different nitrogen and cobalt contents was studied by the method of rotating disk. It was shown that oxygen reduction activities of the catalysts depend mostly on the N-bound cobalt content, and enhance with its increase.