In this article we will talk about one of the most successful general directors of the entire world of football and the CSKA club in particular - Roman Babaev. His contribution to domestic football is invaluable. He was able to prove to the whole world that Russian football players are worth a lot. In the article you will be able to trace his entire long and thorny path: from the beginning, when he was an unknown university student, to the end, when he became a significant person in the world of football.
The novel was born on February 13, 1978 in the city of Chelyabinsk, USSR. Currently, he is a citizen of the Russian Federation.
Soon he moves to Moscow and enters the University. Lomonosov to the Faculty of Law. Roman Babaev graduates from the institute with a distinction. He began building his career at FC CSKA back in 1999, being at that time still a legal consultant. He is also an expert in the field of sports law.
Roman Babaev has been the General Director of CSKA since March 2007. He was appointed to this position by the board of shareholders. He has also been a holder of the Order of the Badge of Honor since 2006.
Currently, Roman Babaev is one of the leading young football managers in Russia. But it all started when, back in 1999, a 4th year student at Moscow State University had the opportunity to work at the CSKA football club as a legal consultant.
In the late 90s, as many remember, there were very troubled times, which also affected the CSKA football club. It would seem that this is a road to nowhere, because there was no hope even that the club’s infrastructure would develop. During this period, Roman Babaev decides to no longer have anything to do with this club and wants to leave it as soon as possible.
But in 2001, new investors came to the club, led by Evgeniy Giner. They sought to do absolutely everything for the club and to ensure law and order in football. At this time, a legislative vacuum arose in the club (there were no norms that determine the status of professional sports); the staff of football clubs did not even have lawyers. But after Giner arrived, everyone realized that his team is a union of people with huge ambitions who will be able to move to a new stage in the development of the football club.
From the first days, Roman Babaev and Evgeniy Giner began to bring this goal to life.
One of the main tasks was to build a vertical of power in the club and recruit professionals in their field to the main positions:
Roman Babaev himself headed the legal management department for six years. And only in 2007, by decision of the board of shareholders, Roman was appointed general director of the football club.
Under the leadership of Roman Babaev, they built a very efficient and effective management system, which is still in use today.
On February 21, 2001, it became known that the club had changed its owner - Evgeniy Giner (Russian businessman) became him. And the club attracted new investors; They were people from the Ministry of Defense and a company from England, Blue Castle Enterprises Limited. This marked the beginning of the revival of the legendary club, which in the future became one of the leading clubs in Russian football.
Between 2001 and 2015, the CSKA football team won the Russian Championship five times. Five times they took silver and twice bronze medals. FC CSKA won the Super Cup six times, and was a quarter-finalist in the Champions League twice.
2005 was a landmark year for the club, as it won its first trophy - the UEFA Cup (European Cup). Of course, we can say with confidence that the club’s victories are the result of the efforts of not just one person, but of everyone who had a hand in it - both the coaching staff and the president. And, of course, Roman Babaev also did a lot to make CSKA a successful club.
The main secret of FC CSKA's success is attitude. Most clubs that rely on public money very often achieve nothing. This is clearly evident from the example of the Saturn club. As practice shows, the existence of a team with public money is a waste of taxpayers' money. Post-Soviet and Russian football in this form cannot be a business, because solving financial issues is not entrusted to team leaders - they are faced only with sporting tasks. This means there is no financial gain. Because of this, such clubs receive only budget funds.
But with private financing, things are different. Because in this process you need to monitor consumption daily cash Based on this, Roman Babaev and Evgeniy Giner created their own strategy, which has been successfully used for more than 10 years.
The club bets on players who have not yet been promoted, not on popular and young footballers, but on talented players.
Yes, inviting such participants is always risky. But this must be done wisely. It is necessary to take into account the character, marital status, mentality and, of course, the prospect and ambitions of the player.
A small list of young football players who gained fame in FC CSKA during the reign of Babaev and Giner:
In order for a football club to become successful in our time, it needs to attract the attention and funds of investors. Because in the modern world, without this, it is impossible for a club to become popular.
Roman Babaev and Evgeny Giner understood this very well, and therefore they actively began to attract investors for FC CSKA. One of the first sponsors of the team was the Conti company. Afterwards, the Sibneft company invested money in the club, the total investment amounted to about $55 million. Today, the Russian Networks company is considered the investor of the football club.
The amount of the contract is $130 million.
A successful team must have its own modern stadium, which was perfectly clear to both Evgeny Giner and Roman Babaev.
In 2007, when Babaev became the general director of the CSKA football club, construction began on a modern elite football stadium that would meet all UEFA requirements. On the territory allocated for construction, it is planned to build a children's and youth sports school, a business center and, of course, a museum of FC CSKA.
It is known that Roman is not married. His nationality is unknown. Some say that he is Armenian by nationality, some say that he is Jewish, like Evgeniy Giner. There is no reliable information on this matter. Despite all this, I would like to say that this is a man who did everything possible and impossible to push one of the average clubs to the Russian championships, and help him become the favorite of his fans, the fortieth football team in the UEFA ranking, whose annual budget is about ninety million dollars.
With the arrival of Roman Yuryevich Babaev, the CSKA football club has truly achieved great success, for which both players and numerous fans are grateful to the general director.
1. Who and under what circumstances invited you to work as a sports director?
2. How long did it take to adapt to an unusual role?
3. How would you characterize the main functions of a person holding the position of sports director in a professional club?
4. Which of the club’s transfer deals carried out under your watch do you consider particularly successful?
5. Do you think the high degree of responsibility of sports directors is comparable to the responsibility that club head coaches bear?
6. Do you think the glorious coaching past - prerequisite working as a sports director?
7. How advisable is it to combine these two posts, as Semyon Altman does in Chernomorets?
8. In Ukrainian teams of sports directors - one or two and miscalculated. To what do you attribute such a weak popularity of this position in our country?
9. After gaining experience as a sports director, do you consider the possibility of returning to coaching?
Leonid BURYAK: “It’s impossible to get into Dynamo by calling”
1. This position was introduced by Dynamo President Igor Surkis several years ago, and I was invited to it with a certain perspective. The management expected that after a detailed acquaintance with the club infrastructure, I would lead the team as head coach, which subsequently happened. Having gained such experience, I am again performing the functions of a sports director and I must say that this is a very comfortable, but at the same time responsible position, which must be treated with the utmost professionalism.
2. I have lived a considerable life in football in order to roughly understand what exactly was required of me at the first and subsequent stages of work. After all, many famous football players and coaches focus on the functions of a sports director: as living examples, I can name the names of the Englishman David Platt, the Italian Arigo Sacchi, and the Spaniard Emilio Butragueno. Well, the acceleration of the adaptation process was facilitated by more experienced colleagues - the vice-president of the club Jozsef Szabo and the head of the Dynamo football department Evgeniy Kotelnikov. They were the ones who brought me up to speed and helped me feel all the specifics of the new position.
3. You know, if I start listing all my responsibilities, you may not have enough newspaper space. In fact, everything more or less important goes through the sports director internal processes club. This applies to issues of transfer policy, youth schools, and correspondence with colleagues from other teams, as well as the PFL and football federations. Plus administrative activities - the departure of players to various national teams. The working day is not standardized, the amount of paperwork is impressive, but there is no escape from this: no creativity can do without routine.
4. Selection work in all its diversity - from watching a football player to concluding a personal agreement with him - is one of the priority activities of the sports director. Of course, you can’t do without mistakes, but that’s how this profession is: only those who do nothing make no mistakes. Among the successful transfer operations, I would note the acquisition of the Brazilian midfielder Carlos Correa; I think he will still prove himself. There were also opposite examples: the same Christian Irimiya was looked at not only by Dynamo selectors, but also by our coaches - Anatoly Demyanenko and Valery Zuev, and everyone unanimously decided that Dynamo needed this player. In Romania, Irimia was a star, he looked head and shoulders above his teammates, but in Ukraine he did not play. But even such great players as Shevchenko know first-hand what adaptation problems are... Human nature is too delicate a matter for one to avoid mistakes in the selection of personnel. But I can speak firmly about one thing: it is impossible to get into our club through so-called connections or by calling. No one will buy a football player without seeing him in action, unless, of course, some uncontrollable things interfere with the process. For example, the end of the deadline for additional applications and the urgent need to fill the gaps caused by injuries to leading performers. This is how Colombians Jose Moreno and Harrison Otalvaro appeared in Dynamo. It was a risk, but a completely justified one, especially since the acquisition of these players did not greatly impact the club’s coffers. Without false modesty, I will say that Dynamo Kiev has one of the best selection services in the CIS and Baltic clubs.
5. The responsibility that falls on the head coach is, of course, enormous, because he is responsible for the immediate result, and the fruits of his work are visible to the naked eye - they are directly proportional to the numbers on the scoreboard. As for the sports director, he is in some way a more shadowy figure, assessed through internal self-control. Meanwhile, when Dynamo began to lose matches in the group stage of the Champions League in the fall, accusations of unprofessionalism against us appeared in various media. We need to approach this philosophically: we still live in a country of Soviets, and criticism of this kind is inevitable. But, believe me, in clubs of this level, one’s duties must be performed not formally, but with the maximum degree of responsibility, taking into account the high level of requirements and the rich traditions of Dynamo Kyiv.
6. Yes, and this is confirmed by many examples. For me personally, coaching experience has become a great help in my new profession. I went through a great school of football and spent quite a long time in this kitchen to confidently navigate its intricate labyrinths.
7. I don't think so. On paper, all this may look good, but in practice I can’t imagine this. The load that falls on the coach of a serious club is enormous; the scope of the functions of the sports director, as I have already mentioned, relates to a slightly different specificity, but is no less great. How to combine two such posts? Don't know. Whatever one may say, there are only 24 hours in a day.
8. Today we are talking not about how it is, but about how it should ideally be. In theory, every team should have a sports director, but Ukrainian clubs, with rare exceptions, cannot afford such a luxury. So it turns out that the coach is simultaneously forced to perform the functions of a mentor, sports director, administrator and selector. I went through all this at one time in “Chernomorets”. Today, in clubs with established infrastructure, all these responsibilities are clearly delineated.
9. I admit it. Coaching, of course, is attractive, but at this stage I want to work calmly, and not suffer, doing a hundred things that are not related to my paraffin, paying football players salaries from my own pocket. I had a similar experience in “Chernomorets” and in Ternopil “Niva”. It seems to me that at some point in your career you need to decide whether you plan to retrain as a functionary or remain an active coach. I have already said that the profession of a sports director is comfortable to a certain extent, but in my case the point is that I gave Dynamo the lion’s share of my life, I love this club very much and I want to benefit it in any capacity. One cannot help but recall the words of long-time Liverpool manager Bob Paisley, who uttered the famous phrase: “For the sake of Liverpool, I am ready to stand in the courtyard of the club’s stadium with a broom in my hands.”
Victor PROKOPENKO: “Football people are akin to... drug addicts”
1. Everything turned out quite prosaically: I worked at Dynamo Moscow, which at that time was sponsored by Mikhail Khodorkovsky. But already in the middle of the season it became obvious that the situation in the team, to put it mildly, was not very good: in the summer the club faced serious economic difficulties, which in some way paralyzed its life. The leaders of the capital team were not at all against continuing our cooperation and offered to work for me until the end of the season, but I never tried to take anyone at their word and did not cling to the terms of the existing contract. And then, in the summer off-season, I had a serious conversation with Shakhtar President Rinat Akhmetov, who offered me the position of sports director of the club. At that moment, however, I imagined myself in this capacity with great difficulty, but Rinat Leonidovich knows how to convince his interlocutor. Otherwise, perhaps, I would not have decided to engage in an activity that was new in every sense.
2. You know, I got involved in work with such zeal that I simply didn’t have the opportunity to look at the calendar and count the days. Another thing is that, upon closer examination, everything turned out to be not as difficult as it initially seemed: yes, I stopped doing direct training, but in many other respects I did everything the same as before. In the end, over time, everything unusual becomes a habit.
3. Despite the fact that a professional football club is a kind of private enterprise, within which its own rules and taboos apply, I did not have any fixed set of rights and responsibilities. No one said: “This is forbidden to you, but this, on the contrary, must be done, at all costs...” I felt a certain freedom, but at the same time, serious responsibility. On the other hand, it seems to me that in this profession, as in all others, the effectiveness of work directly depends on the internal qualities of the individual himself.
Can we say that my main responsibility was to determine the selection direction of FC Shakhtar? Yes and no. “No” - because the range of my main responsibilities was quite wide. “Yes” - because high-quality selection is the cornerstone of the success of any sports team.
4. This question is not formulated very correctly. To effectively resolve personnel issues, a selection group was created, which in our club was made up of well-known Shakhtar players in the past, who know what football is and what they eat it with. Without idealizing these specialists, I note that the amount of work they did and the volume of dossiers created were so enormous that if at least one of the twenty performers taken into account had come to Donetsk, several more well-equipped teams would have appeared in the Donetsk club system. I will say frankly that almost all of the foreign players who did not make it to Shakhtar, in particular from South American countries, are now defending the colors of not the worst clubs in the Old World. As for the same Brazilians - Elan, Brandau, Jadson, Matuzalem and company, both I and the club’s coaches watched them live or based on video materials, after which the president also expressed his opinion.
5. Responsibility is an ephemeral concept; it cannot be put on scales or weighed. In theory, the team coach and sports director should work in unison to minimize the number of possible mistakes. And I, like probably any normal person, could not do without them in my work... At the same time, it is necessary to understand that the responsibility for the results of the head coach is colossal. A team is not 11, but at least 25 people, while the decision on its immediate formation - in the “here and now” mode - should be made by only one person! I know from my own experience how difficult it is, so I never judge my colleagues strictly.
As for the sports director, he must honor traditions and have a keen sense of the mentality of the team in which he works. Each football club, like a living organism, has innate character qualities and a unique genetic code, and there is no escape from this. To make the essence of my words clear to you, I will give a clear example. Everyone is familiar with Barcelona's playing style. Dress its players in the jerseys of any club in Spain or even Europe, and you will still never confuse the Catalans with the players of another team. Now imagine that Barcelona was led by a coach with diametrically opposed views on football, preaching a pronounced defensive philosophy of the game. Yes, even if he wins the domestic championship or even the Champions League a hundred times in a row, the fans will never forgive him for his betrayal of attacking football, and in every match they will boo and even, as is customary in the West, wave white handkerchiefs. The same applies to performers who are invited to this club. First of all, they must be like-minded people and brothers in football blood.
6. Successful experience as a coach of a club or national team has never bothered anyone. I say this not because I am one of the specialists you named, but because a sports director who has experienced all the vicissitudes of coaching will better understand and appreciate the difficulties and problems of the coach of his club.
7. You know, in the theory of the issue, absolutely everything can be combined and even... completely incompatible. How comparable this is to reality is another matter. To each his own: to Caesar - what is Caesar’s, to the mechanic - what is metalworker’s. Moreover, the same Altman - a true professional our business. There are no two of these in Chernomorets now.
8. With an extremely low level of infrastructure development of domestic clubs and a striking imbalance that reigns in our domestic championship. The gap between the grandees and everyone else is growing by leaps and bounds, and is already reaching terrifying proportions! In my opinion, only a blind person could miss this. The position of “sports director” in itself is absolutely necessary in the structure of any self-respecting club. Another thing is that introducing it just like that, at the behest of fashion or simply by fooling around with the advanced West, is completely inappropriate. The person holding this position must work on a fundamental basis.
9. To be honest, it is best to express yourself in one specialty. But small creative breaks have not yet bothered anyone. On the contrary, they only returned the acuity of sensations that had been lost at some point. In the end, football is not just an attachment, it is a real addiction, and we coaches, excuse the bold comparison, are akin to drug addicts who, over time, begin to experience the most banal “withdrawal.” And now, having moved into politics, despite the acute shortage of time, I try to keep my finger on the pulse of events in the number one sport - I study the press, watch the most interesting fights. And all because I know: someday it will definitely come in handy.
Anatoly BYSHOVETS:
- Today it is very difficult to imagine the structure of a solid team without a sports director. This is an absolutely necessary person, whose main function is to coordinate all the main issues of the football club. However, this position involves a fairly wide range of responsibilities, from selection to the organization of club infrastructure. In the end, it is the sports director who is responsible for the long-term development of a particular team.
Add to this the responsibility that is in some ways comparable to the pressure that the head coach of a professional football club experiences. In the West, where activities of this kind became widespread earlier than here, it is believed that the coach should be responsible, first of all, for determining the composition for a specific match and the immediate result of the team. As for the sports director, he deals with more global issues, determining the club’s far-reaching plans. In other words, if the coach is responsible for tactics, then the scope of the sports director includes the team development strategy.
CIS and Baltic clubs, getting used to the new administrative requirements of the number one sport, are still trying to experiment, sometimes treating the position of sports director as a combined one - that is, occupied by the same... head coach. Ideally, this is undesirable, because the sports director needs to prove himself in a highly specialized industry, namely, to act as a kind of intermediary between the head coach and the top management of the club. But history knows such examples, and there is no need to look far for examples. My longtime friend and colleague from work at Dynamo Moscow and the South Korean Olympic team, Semyon Altman, with whom I constantly keep in touch, performs these functions at Chernomorets Odessa. But I repeat once again: I think that this does not come from a good life.
The example of Dynamo Moscow shows that qualified sports directors are now in short supply and price. As soon as the club, which had never been downgraded in the entire history of Soviet and Russian football, faced the threat of relegation to the lower division, Dynamo representatives immediately began to look - no, not for a head coach - but for a sports director. And one of the candidates for this post was my successor at Shakhtar, Viktor Prokopenko, which I myself consider quite logical. If we draw parallels between sports and business, then the activities of a sports director are quite comparable to the role of a so-called anti-crisis manager.
Many journalists believe that I am perhaps the first specialist from the CIS who tried himself in this role, collaborating with a Western club - I mean the Scottish Hearts - and are interested: did natural problems arise with adaptation? I answer: no, none. On the contrary, we have a very smooth and friendly relationship with the head coach of the British club, Don Robertson. After all, in a practical activity like this, personal contacts are very important for the subsequent effectiveness of teamwork.
Eduard Malofeev, Viktor Prokopenko, alas, the late Evgeniy Kucherevsky - all of them are sports directors who went through many years of school as head coaches. All these people are highly qualified specialists for whom there are no secrets in big football, and their deep knowledge will undoubtedly bring and will benefit their clubs. Whatever one may say, many of the functions of a sports director are in one way or another directly related to the coaching profession. And here’s a simple example: when, during one of our last conversations with Shakhtar President Rinat Akhmetov, I asked about the prospects of one of the players, he answered briefly and dryly: “This is the prerogative of our sports director Viktor Prokopenko.” You understand that an amateur cannot be responsible for selection in a club of this level.
“I came to RMA for specialized knowledge in the field of sports management and marketing. I needed to systematize my knowledge about the sports industry, accumulated during my work. I was also interested in new acquaintances, business contacts, and international internships. To summarize and talk about whether my expectations from studying at RMA were met, then yes, they were. I got everything I wanted."
He came to the faculty, at one time twice recognized as the best children's football coach in the Moscow region, when he realized that he no longer wanted to coach. Now he - executive director football club "Rosich" from the city of Moskovsky in New Moscow and has ambitious plans for its development. Alexander spoke about them and much more in an interview with the RMA business school website.
Alexander, at “Rosich” - rich history. How did it all begin?
Football has always been popular here in Moscow. In the 90s, the Interros club was based in Moscow, which even played in the First League of the Russian Championship. After Interros ceased to exist due to lack of funding, big football in Moskovsky almost died out. It might not exist now, but my father did everything possible to keep football alive in our city.
Is your father the founder and president of Rosich?
Yes, Vladimir Yurievich Chirin. In his youth, he himself played football and hockey. He played for Dynamo Moscow. He played for the youth and youth teams of the Union. But due to injury, he ended his career at the age of 23. Assigned from the institute, I went to work as a school teacher, then worked as a sports instructor at the Moskovsky Agricultural Plant.
Since the beginning of the 90s, on the sports grounds of the then village of Moskovsky, under the patronage of the Agricultural Plant, but actually on a voluntary basis, football classes were held for children.
The period from 1996 to 2000 can be considered decisive in the emergence of the current Rosich club. This is due to the fact that in 1996 Vladimir Yurievich began working with children's football teams. It was during this period that a team of like-minded people was created - football players and coaches, united by a love of sports and a great desire to do their favorite thing - football. During this period, work with children's teams reached a new level. Teams were formed different ages. The training process has become more meaningful and productive. The tasks of young football players were no longer just periodic training and participation in “at least some” competitions, as in the early 90s, but preparation and participation in the official Moscow Region Championship. At that time there was no regular funding for the groups' activities. The organizational and technical component was at an extremely low level. For regular participation in competitions, funds were sought from various sources. From time to time, financial support for the participation of teams in competitions was provided by the Agrokombinat, which at that time was still a city-forming enterprise.
In 2000, it was decided to create a men's team so that upon reaching adulthood, children from the city of Moscow would still have the opportunity to play football. In the same year, on the eve of the first official competitions of the men's team, the name “Rosich” appeared, which was chosen as a result of a competition held among coaches, football players, and their parents.
Rosich men's team in 2014 at a training camp in Turkey - head coach Andrey Talalaev
Tell us about the successes of Rosich.
Over the past 17 years, the club has managed to play in two regions at once - in competitions of the Moscow and Moscow Region Football Federations. Now “Rosich” plays in the Third Division of the Russian Championship.
Over the past five years, “Rosich” has represented the capital at the final stages of the All-Russian competitions. In 2016, we became second in the Russian Cup among 3rd division clubs. The youth team became the champion of Moscow. Both teams have been at the top at their levels over the past five years. More than 40 football players received the rank of candidate master of sports. The Academy has gone from the lowest level of children's and youth competitions in the Moscow region to the highest, and now performs well in the second strongest league in Moscow. Teams from the Rosich Academy have repeatedly won medals at the Russian Championship in the premier group, Moscow zone, including gold ones.
How was your personal story at Rosich?
Now I am an executive director, but I started in a completely different capacity, as a coach. In general, I have been playing football since childhood. He trained, like his father, at Dynamo. Until a certain moment I thought that I would become a professional player. There were probably chances to break into the Dynamo double back then. But in the end it happened that in 2001 I ended up in Rosich. He was coached then by Sergei Lavrentyev, also, by the way, local, from Moscow. After Rosich, he headed the Russian national women's team. Sergei Nikolaevich convinced me that by constantly playing in the Rosich men's team, I could quickly adapt to adult football and get into a professional club. But this plan was not destined to work. But I had a really, really good experience. From the age of 17, I played and coached for quite a long time. Moreover, several teams at once. The club did not have enough coaching staff at that time. At the same time, he studied at the Moscow Regional University at the Faculty of Physical Education. The workload was crazy. But this regime only benefited my development as a specialist. One day I realized that it was time to make a choice in favor of one of the directions. I ended my playing career and focused on coaching. Later, for two years in a row, in 2008 and 2009, I was recognized as the best coach of children's and youth teams in the Moscow region.
Alexander Chirin, Andrey Pyatnitsky and Valery Karpin
At one time I really wanted this. I was inspired by the example of Mourinho - here, I thought, a man who himself did not play at a high level, but became a great coach. Since there are such examples, then I should be able to do it too. Even then I clearly understood for myself that a football player and a coach are two different professions. What football is, and in what mode a football player lives and develops, I understood from personal experience. All that remained was to focus on education and work hard and hard.
A quick path to the elite was out of the question. At that time there were practically no young coaches in our football. I worked for five years without seeing a single peer in the coaching workshop. At the Higher School of Coaches, there was generally an age limit; it was impossible to enroll until the age of 28. When I realized that I had a long way to reach the status of coach of one of the existing professional clubs, I decided that I either needed to work in such a way that it would be impossible not to notice your success, or I had to make my way to the pros as amateurs, creating something new. By present moment this judgment remains my professional credo.
For this reason, I refused Dynamo’s offer to work as a coach at their Academy. I was told that working at Rosich I had no prospects, and few people get the chance to work at an academy of this level. I was certainly flattered by this offer, but I preferred to concentrate on my development through Rosich.
And the prospect of one day beating Rosich against Dynamo became a decent motivation for me.
But why did you decide to give up the coaching profession?
Working as a children's and youth coach in the 2000s, I had to independently solve many organizational issues related to the life of my teams. Thus, gradually, through my own experience, I acquired not only coaching, but also organizational competencies. In parallel with football, I also developed as a specialist at the Sports Center, whose goal is to develop physical culture and sports in the city.
Over time, I realized that I liked this direction and I have something to say regarding the future prospects of the Sports Center and the football club. The need arose for the second time in my life to choose between specializations.
By that time, my tenth anniversary season as a coach had begun, and I was really looking forward to its speedy end. This season was graduation for the boys born in 1994. - my most successful team. And I knew for sure that after their graduation I would no longer work as a coach. There were no necessary emotions left.
Plus, a series of coaching resignations and leapfrogs of the same coaches at clubs in Russian professional football gradually formed a skeptical attitude towards my prospects in this profession. A coach is a dependent profession, and the assessment of his activities is often subjective. And it so happened that at less than 30 years old, having 10 years of coaching experience, I made my choice. Now I don’t coach myself, but work to create conditions in which existing coaches can realize their potential for the benefit of football.
Alexander with the team born in 1994, 2010
Tell us about what the Rosich football club is at the moment?
In its current form, “Rosich” has been operating since 2001, from the moment when the “Moskovsky Sports Center” was created.
"Rosich" is the football sports training department of a multidisciplinary sports institution - the Moskovsky Sports Center.
The Sports Center is the focal point of the city's sports life. Through his efforts, more than 30 mass sports and sports and recreational events are held in the city of Moskovsky per year.
The Institution also operates groups and sections in sports such as volleyball, basketball, and hockey. Forms national teams of the city and organizes their preparation for participation in complex Spartakiads in Moscow.
As for the infrastructure that is used directly by the football club and football school, these are, first of all, fields - one natural one - of very good quality. One artificial, and two more artificial training fields of reduced size. There is an administrative building with six locker rooms, offices for coaches and staff, a medical office, equipment storage rooms, and a conference room. In general, we have everything necessary for full-fledged training work.
How many teams are there in the system?
The club structure includes 16 teams. A men's team, a youth team, eight children's and youth teams that are already competing in official competitions, as well as teams of younger ages. On average - 20-22 people in each. The youngest participants are 4 years old. The coaching staff works according to its own program, developed in accordance with federal standards of sports training. The training process is structured in such a way that two specialists work with the team on the field.
The post of head coach of the men's team is occupied by Andrei Pyatnitsky, a famous former Spartak football player and five-time Russian champion. After finishing his career, he worked at the Spartak Academy and headed the Spartak youth team.
The Club also has a beach soccer team. Beach players participate in the Top Division of the Moscow Championship along with the recognized leaders of Russian beach football Lokomotiv, Spartak, CSKA and Strogino. The team is led by Mikhail Elagin, he and I studied in the same RMA group. Then we came up with the idea to work in this type of football.
How are your relations with the Academies of big Moscow clubs? Are they poaching your players?
They are poaching, and this situation is ambiguous. We are not against transferring our player to top academies if he is either really very talented or, due to hard work, has clearly outgrown the average level of his teammates. And this transition becomes a step forward for our student when, in the process of negotiations between the leadership of the academies, we understand that the child is not taken for the sake of numbers, but really for strengthening. But this scenario doesn't happen very often. In practice the picture is different. As soon as a player from a football school of Rosich’s level begins to perform well, he quickly falls into the field of interest of the selection departments of leading Moscow academies. This is where club academies begin to remind me of national teams. After all, it is the national teams that are formed according to this principle - to take the best, most prepared players at the moment in order to achieve an operational result.
The fundamental question is how these transitions occur. The overwhelming majority of leading academies do not even try to interact with us in a civilized manner. They turn directly to the parents of young football players, bypassing the coaching and management staff and literally lure them away. And here we are not protected by anything. Children's sports are de jure amateur. You will delimit it with a contract. Every child is free to choose where he likes best. All we have to do is develop and create conditions so that people don’t want to leave us.
We understand the natural desire of a child and his parents to get into a prestigious academy. However, common sense is often lost in the face of the power of brands. It can be difficult for parents to assess the situation soberly when agents and scouts begin to talk about the uniqueness of their children and promise a great football future. Both our warnings and recommendations to evaluate our prospects more carefully are beginning to look unfavorable in comparison. Most decide to switch. And in the end - a place in the reserves, a lack of playing practice and a stopper in professional development.
In 2016, there was an indicative case: our team, born in 2003, reached the semi-finals of the Robert Fulda Moscow Cup according to its age. Moreover, in the quarterfinals they beat not just anyone, but their peers from Chertanovo, one of the leading Moscow schools.
In the semi-finals we had to play against Dynamo. And it was Dynamo who took away five players from our team between games. And then they were also pitted against us in a head-to-head meeting. Then we lost - 0:3. But the point is, a year has passed, and where are these five now? They practically disappeared. Only one plays at the Dynamo Academy from time to time; the rest cannot boast of such successes. Some are no longer on the team at all.
Thus, moving to a leading academy often has negative consequences for both the child and the football school. Schools such as ours are forced to regularly part with leading players, which literally affects the school’s performance in both training and competitive activities.
Do I understand correctly that classes at the Rosich Academy are free?
Children who have passed a competitive selection for the sports training department are trained free of charge. We do not accept more than 22 people into one group. In the near future we plan to introduce paid groups that everyone can join.
I can’t help but ask: who funds you?
Funding sources are mixed. The Moskovsky Sports Center, as the main sports institution of the city, carries out most of the work in the field of mass sports at the expense of the municipal budget.
But of course, all the tasks of the Institution cannot be solved at the expense of the budget. Mass sports at the municipal level are usually either insufficiently or incorrectly funded. Therefore, one of our goals is to make the relationship between sports and local authorities more rational and understandable for both parties. We want to give the municipality the opportunity to reduce funding for the operating activities of a sports institution and use the freed-up funds to create new opportunities and develop the city’s sports infrastructure.
Based on the above, we constantly attract commercial structures to solve your problems. A pool of regular partners has been formed, without whose participation it is difficult to imagine our sporting events. Partners represent various segments. When planning interaction, we first develop activation programs in detail to achieve maximum effect from the partnership.
And “Rosich” in this regard is quite a brand. Many local companies no longer even have to prove the benefits of interacting with the club. Athletes, their families, friends, fans - this is the target audience for our partners.
An equally important area we evaluate is income-generating activities. We have done work to reorganize the existing institution in order to give it the opportunity to earn money independently. Corresponding changes were made to the charter and structure of the institution. We are now developing a set of services, due to which the Sports Center will begin to move away from work due to subsidies.
To summarize, there is a desire to prove by personal example that a state/municipal sports institution can be successful in matters of aggregating funds for self-sufficiency and development.
Have you thought about bringing Rosich to the professional level?
This is ours global challenge. Everything we are doing now is dedicated to creating a strong, self-sufficient professional football club that the city needs.
Our main team is already at the PFL level.
But there is a fundamental question regarding the amount of funding and its sources. Participation in competitions among professional clubs involves much higher costs than we have now. But I don’t see any fundamental benefit from acquiring professional status in these circumstances. To create another subsidized professional club and every year, without compelling reasons, to try to justify a minimum of 50 million rubles for its maintenance is against our principles. When we ourselves can earn that kind of money, then we will rise higher.
In the case of Rosich, is this scenario possible?
I am convinced that a football club, both amateur and professional, which is the only one or the main one in the region (region, city, district) can be successful from an economic point of view.
Considering the role of football in life modern society, the presence of a football club like " business card» the city creates favorable conditions for combining the interests of the state, sports and business. In this case, it is the partnership between the state (in our case, a local municipality), a football club and business entities that can help form mixed channels of financing activities, while preserving the interests of each of the participants in this partnership.
We are building a development strategy focused on the production of a product unique to the region and the targeted formation of a culture of its consumption. Our goal is to turn the club’s football event into a city cultural festival equally interesting to various segments of the population. The catalysts for the implementation of the intended strategy will be PR, marketing, event and entertainment tools, successfully used by leading Western football clubs, but adapted to economic and social characteristics our country.
It is assumed that a comfortable environment, a high level of service, as well as the entertainment of the events held by the club, supported by an effective concept of attracting spectators to the stadium, will create conditions where the population’s leisure time in the form of going to sporting events will outperform other types of interactivity and entertainment.
Activities in many areas predetermined by the football club by the sports industry will help centralize the sphere of sports and recreational services and the socio-cultural life of the city at the stadium and around the Football Club itself - as management company. As a result, the club will have access to a wide base of clients, fans, spectators - consumers of the product.
The income received through the high-quality implementation of the proposed development concept will allow a club to become commercially successful even from the lower division of Russian competitions, but with a clearly defined territorial positioning.
And how do you intend to implement this strategy?
Through the development of infrastructure and its own operational activities.
Our plans include the construction of a multifunctional sports complex on the territory of our stadium.
I visited many sports facilities in different countries world, including thanks to foreign internships organized by RMA. Everywhere I was interested in precisely this aspect - how a sports organization or facility can function successfully. Attached special importance to nuances and details.
FC Rosich Stadium
A high-quality sports product is of course important, but I will deliberately not focus on this aspect. The trend is that during a sporting event, for example, a game of a sports team, many more processes are organized in parallel for the diverse interaction of the club and its partners with visitors. Main goal These processes include the formation of positive emotions and direct or delayed sale to loyal visitors of a fairly wide range of goods and services. There is food, paraphernalia and all kinds of entertainment services. In order for such processes to be possible at a sports facility, it must be properly designed and built, taking into account the need for specialized areas for the provision of services.
It was the concept that was voiced that served as the basis for us when developing the project of our multifunctional sports complex.
Moreover, it is planned not only as a new base for Rosich. Yes, much attention is paid to football infrastructure. The football cluster includes a stadium with 3.5 thousand seats, hospitality areas and skyboxes, and an indoor arena with stands for 1.5 thousand. The project also includes under one roof two ice rinks with a third warm-up ice, a universal games room for mini-football, basketball and volleyball, two tennis courts, martial arts halls, a hotel, a spa area, and a medical rehabilitation center. All sports facilities are interconnected by spaces for organizing trade, leisure and catering.
This project has no analogues in Russia. It is important to note the very favorable location of Moskovsky. Vnukovo airport is two kilometers from us, and there is a direct route to Luzhniki. A road is currently being built that will connect Vnukovo and Domodedovo. Soon it will be possible to quickly get from one airport to another without even visiting the Moscow Ring Road. Taking into account all these circumstances, our new complex should be in great demand both among the general population and among professional teams in various sports, both in Moscow and those arriving in the capital to participate in competitions at various levels. Excellent conditions for living, training, transport accessibility and the opportunity to receive any service related to sports within the walls of one building should be our advantage. It will be possible to hold serious competitions here.
Yes, the implementation of this idea will require serious investments. However, we believe that it is precisely this approach to sports infrastructure that can make its subsequent operation commercially successful.
We have already received permission to build this facility from the Moscow government.
Finally, a question directly related to your studies at RMA. After quite some time, what do you think about this period of your life? Were your expectations met?
I came to RMA for specialized knowledge in the field of sports management and marketing. I needed to systematize my knowledge about the sports industry, accumulated during my work. I was also interested in new acquaintances, business contacts, and international internships.
For example, in 2013, the president of the Hannover football club, Martin Kind, gave a master class at the RMA before the Europa League match in Luzhniki. At the end of the event, we met and exchanged contacts. We discussed that, if possible, we would be happy to interact. And next year the senior youth team of the Rosich Academy went to Hannover. The program included a test match with the youth team of the host country, in addition, Mr. Kind organized for the children a visit to the Bundesliga match “Hannover” - “Bayer” and an excursion program around the city and the club’s home stadium.
Alexander with the president of the Hannover football club Martin Kind
Youth team "Rosich" at the stadium of FC Hannover HDI-Arena
If we summarize all of the above and talk about whether my expectations from studying at RMA were met, then yes, they were. I got everything I wanted.
Interviewed by Peter BRANTOV
1.1 This job description defines functional responsibilities, rights and responsibilities of the director sports club.
1.2 The director of a sports club belongs to the category of managers.
1.3 The director of the sports club is appointed and dismissed in accordance with the procedure established by the current labor legislation by order of the founders.
1.4 Relationships by position:
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1.4.1 |
Direct subordination |
founders, board of directors |
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1.4.2. |
Additional Subordination |
− |
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1.4.3 |
Gives orders |
Club employees |
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1.4.4 |
The employee is replaced |
deputy(s) |
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1.4.5 |
The employee replaces |
− |
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2.1. |
Education |
higher; secondary vocational |
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2.2 |
experience |
work experience in the specialty at least (1 year; 2 years; 3 years; etc.) |
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2.3 |
knowledge |
Provisions of the law “On Physical Culture and Sports in Ukraine”, other regulatory legal documents that determine the directions and prospects for the development of physical culture and sports. Fundamentals of financial and economic activities. Profile, specialization and structure features of a sports club. Fundamentals of economics, labor organization and management. Domestic and foreign experience in the field of development of physical culture and sports. Means of computer technology, communication and communication. The procedure for developing and concluding business contracts. Fundamentals of business administration. Fundamentals of labor legislation. Rules and regulations of occupational health, safety, industrial sanitation and fire protection. |
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2.4 |
skills |
− |
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2.5 |
additional requirements |
– |
3.1 External documents:
Legislative and regulations related to the work being performed.
3.2 Internal documents:
Charter of the sports club, Orders and instructions of the director of the sports club (founders, board of directors); Regulations on the sports club, Job description of the director of the sports club, Internal rules labor regulations.
Director of the sports club:
4.1. Provides general management of the administrative, economic and economic activities of the sports club.
4.2. Organizes the work of the sports club staff.
4.3. Resolves all issues related to the provision of services to club visitors.
4.5. Resolves all issues related to the activities of the sports club within the limits of the rights granted to it regarding the expenditure of financial and material resources.
4.6. Ensures that the sports club is equipped with sports-technological and engineering equipment, inventory, materials and monitors their use.
4.7. Organizes timely major and current repairs of buildings, structures, club premises and equipment.
4.8. Takes measures to provide the sports club with qualified personnel, best use knowledge and experience of employees; concludes employment agreements (contracts) with club staff.
4.9. Monitors strict compliance by club staff with safety regulations, industrial sanitation, and fire safety.
4.10. Makes decisions on proposals to impose administrative penalties and apply incentive measures to club staff.
4.11. Determines the conditions and concludes contracts related to the activities of the sports club, organizes control over their implementation.
4.12. Manages all activities of the sports club.
4.13. Organizes the work of the club's instructors and administrative staff.
The club director has the right:
5.1. Represent the interests of the sports club in relations with citizens, legal entities, government authorities and management.
5.2. Dispose of the property and funds of the sports club in compliance with the requirements determined by law, decisions of the founders, and other regulatory legal acts.
5.3. Within the limits established by law, determine the composition and volume of information constituting a trade secret and the procedure for its protection.
The director of a sports club is responsible for:
6.1. For improper performance or failure to fulfill your job responsibilities provided for by this job description - within the limits determined by the current labor legislation of Ukraine.
6.2. For offenses committed in the course of carrying out their activities - within the limits determined by the current administrative, criminal and civil legislation of Ukraine.
6.3. For causing material damage- within the limits determined by the current labor and civil legislation of Ukraine.
7.1. The work schedule of the sports club director is determined in accordance with the internal labor regulations established in the sports club.
7.2. Due to operational needs, the director of a sports club may be sent on business trips (including local ones).
7.3. To resolve operational issues of the director of a sports club, official vehicles may be allocated.
The terms of remuneration for the director of a sports club are determined in accordance with the Regulations on remuneration of personnel.
9 Final provisions
9.1 This Job Description is drawn up in two copies, one of which is kept by the sports club, the other by the employee.
9.2 Tasks, Responsibilities, Rights and Responsibilities can be clarified in accordance with changes in the Structure, Tasks and Functions structural unit and workplace.
9.3 Changes and additions to this Job description are introduced by order general director sports club.
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Head of structural unit |
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(signature) |
(last name, initials) |
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AGREED: |
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Head of Legal Department |
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(signature) |
(last name, initials) |
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00.00.0000 |
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I have read the instructions: |
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(signature) |
(last name, initials) |
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00.00.00 |
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The position of the club's sports director is again vacant at Zenit. Alexander Bokiy, who worked in this position last year, decided to join Konstantin Sarsania and become a member of the coaching staff of FC Khimki. By the way, before Bokiy, it was Sarsania who worked as the sports director of the blue-white-sky blues. And they were doing different things.
It is generally accepted that a sports director should be responsible for selection, and this term usually means the search not only for young talents, but in general for good level players who can be bought at a profit. So Sarsania was in charge of this, and did a good job. Thanks to him, Fatih Tekke, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Alejandro Dominguez, Anatoly Timoshchuk, Nicholas Lombaerts appeared at Zenit - worthwhile players, no matter what they say about them. Bokiy was involved in children's and youth football and paid a lot of attention to organizing a boarding school, the idea of creating which Zenit recently decided to abandon. I remember three years ago, Zenit posted an advertisement on its official website with a list of requirements for a candidate for the post of sports director. There were somehow not many of them: a higher physical education education, experience of playing in professional football and working in football clubs, knowledge of a foreign language... It turns out that almost any person who has played and worked a little in at least the second league and graduated Institute of Physical Education, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them.
In European football, the sporting director is perhaps the most important element of the club structure. He acts as a kind of buffer between the owners of the club, its top management (president, general director) and the team itself (coaches and players). He is engaged not only and not so much in the search for young talents and the purchase and sale of football players, but in the creation of a club pyramid, or, as it is fashionable to say, a “vertical”. He is responsible for the ideology, development strategy, fights for the continuity of generations, etc., etc. His task is to ensure that the team does not depend on the change of coaches, which is always inevitable, and the renewal of the roster, no matter how painful it may be.
The sports director is as much a guarantor of the stability and vitality of the club as the president. It should be known to fans who want to be sure: coaches and players come and go, but their favorite team remains. Therefore, they prefer to appoint popular people with reputation to the post of sports director. Often these are former players who need no introduction. For example, in Real Madrid this position is now entrusted to Predrag Mijatovic. In Bayern Munich, this role was played at different times by Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
And we have similar examples. Thus, Vladimir Fedotov worked at Spartak Moscow until recently. The red-and-white coaches changed like gloves - Nevio Scala, Andrei Chernyshev, Alexander Starkov, but Fedotov remained, not allowing the club to fall into an uncontrollable tailspin. If necessary, he even became the acting head coach. Now in Spartak this post is occupied by a person of a different generation - Dmitry Popov, who also does not need to be introduced to the fans of the “people's team”.
What about Zenit? In the main team of St. Petersburg for the time being such a position in staffing table it just wasn't there. In the mid-1990s, Stepan Krisevich, who worked with him before and after Zenit at CSKA, was responsible for the selection and search of players at Pavel Sadyrin’s headquarters. Under Anatoly Byshovets, Alexey Stepanov, the 1984 USSR champion and a popular player, became the sports director. It would seem like a good option, quite “European”. But his responsibilities were far from what a sports director should ideally do. Perhaps Alexey Nikolaevich would eventually become a good football functionary, but fate gave him too little time.
Before appearing at Zenit, Boris Rapoport was known not so much as a player (he defended the goal of the Leningrad Dynamo, teams from Volgograd and Uzbek Karshi) or a coach of professional teams (St. Petersburg Dynamo, Severstal), but as a children's mentor, worked for many years at the Zenit Sports School. At first he led the subsidiary team, then became sports director. In this post (with a break to work as head coach at the end of the 2002 season), he worked under Yuri Morozov, and under Mikhail Biryukov, and under Vlastimil Petrzhel. Rapoport brought to Zenit the first foreign players in its history - Serbs Milan Viestica, Vladimir Mudrinic, Predrag Randjelovic, Romanians Daniel Chiritsa and Zeno Bundu. However, he failed to work well with Petrzela.
After Rapoport, the vacancy at Zenit was filled by... Alexander Bokiy is a former defender of Spartak, known to Petrzhela and Borowiczka from his work in Slovakia, where he spent several years as a player and coach. His appointment was, let's say, an unpopular decision: according to most fans, there were enough people in St. Petersburg who could cope with such a job.
By the way, several years ago I couldn’t find the right specialist for Zenit advertising, and eventually turned to the services of Konstantin Sarsania, at that time a well-known football agent.
As it turns out, finding an athletic director is much more difficult than finding a head coach. Let's see how Zenit copes with this...
PreparedMikhail Grigoriev
The Sport correspondent contacted specialists who in 2006 sent their resumes to the St. Petersburg club for the position of sports director, and Boris Rapoport held this position from 2003 to 2004
— Despite the fact that three years ago I sent my resume for this position, I still have the desire to work as Zenit’s sports director. I think that knowing football, having some experience and knowledge, I could very well help the club. However, this is a very serious post; abroad it is almost higher than the head coach. I don’t have that kind of authority... No one from the club’s management approached me with such a proposal.
As for the functions, the sports director must help the coaching staff complete the main team. It is necessary to build a system for preparing your own reserves for the main team. You can recall the example of Milan and Manchester United, which achieved success at the expense of their students. Under Konstantin Sarsania, the scouting system worked successfully. But here we need to organize things in such a way that first our own students get into the main team, then talented Russian players and then foreign players from near and far abroad. I think a Russian specialist is more suitable for this role.
Surely now there is a search for a big name. In this regard, I can recommend Gadzhi Gadzhiev, who has extensive experience. As for the functions that the Zenit sports director should perform, he should help the coaching staff in terms of recruiting the main team.
“I have both the strength and the desire to work as Zenit’s sports director.” I know how and what to do. However, I think the club has its own plans in this regard. Moreover, a competition was announced in 2006, but now it is not there. The functions of a sports director can be very diverse. First of all, this is selection work, then the sector of children's and youth football, representation in the Premier League and the RFU. The sports director must be Russian. The fact is that a foreigner does not know the domestic market so well. It’s even better if Zenit’s sports director is a St. Petersburg resident who is familiar with children’s football schools, coaches, agents, and so on. Many of our clubs have already realized that they need to look for football players on the Russian market. Inviting players from abroad is a road to nowhere. Legionnaires inevitably end up leaving or not fitting into the main squad. And then difficulties arise in connection with this.
— I sent to Zenit not only my resume, but also my own program, which, by the way, was outlined in an interview with one publication by Sergei Fursenko (ex-president of Zenit. - “Sport.”).
Now I have no desire to stand as a candidate, since I am employed. In addition, at the moment, work related to transfer policy has been established at the club. There are many other problems there. In particular, children's school needs to be addressed. Which, by the way, is the responsibility of the sports director. Its functions should include everything related to the sports part. It should not concern organizational issues. It is necessary to deal with the players, starting with the main team and ending with the children's school. If all the work in the field of transfer policy is streamlined, and the selectors are working in a certain area, the sporting director should be the link between them and the club management. The position, in my opinion, should be occupied by a domestic specialist who has experience working abroad and knows the European organization. Now at Russian clubs This is exactly what is missing.
— When I worked at Zenit as a sports director, I had fairly broad powers. Zenit President Vitaly Mutko set the task of creating a system for training players, starting from youth schools and ending with the main team. We looked at players from Smena, Zenit schools, and amateur teams; they ended up in the reserve squad. Vitaly Leontyevich wanted not a single promising football player from St. Petersburg to get lost. Yes, the relationship with head coach Vlastimil Petrzela did not work out. Therefore, I could not influence the selection work, the purchase of players for the main team. My task also included the further employment of football players, taking into account the large-scale selection of Petrzhela. What happens now is that an agent is involved in the football player’s employment. In my opinion, this is the task of the sports director or head of the selection service. The player is the property of the club, not the agent. I have a desire to return to a similar job. I know the program related to the sports component of the football club by heart.
Prepared by Nikolay Popov
One of the most famous players in the history of the countries of the former Yugoslavia ended his playing career relatively recently. Mijatović became world famous after playing for Real Madrid. In 1998, his goal against Juventus in the 66th minute decided the fate of the Champions League. Predrag’s contribution to the success of the Galacticos was highly appreciated - he was offered, at first glance, the “execution” post of the club’s sports director. Mijatovic’s authority turned out to be so high that even members of the famous “junta” do not allow themselves to enter into reckless polemics with the Serb, and most transfer decisions depend on him.
The “chain dog” of the Munich grandee can afford to be categorical and harsh in his statements - in the early 1980s he survived a terrible plane crash. Hoeneß's quarrelsomeness irritates the media, but at the same time provides Bayern an invaluable service in the transfer market: once you want, the club gets almost any player. Hoeneß grabs the “victim” with a stranglehold and brings him into the ranks of the Bavarians.
According to information available to Sport, one of the candidates for the post of sports director of Zenit is Christian Hochstetter, who until recently worked in the same position at the Bundesliga club Hannover. At one time, Hochstetter worked with Dick Advocaat at Borussia Monchengladbach, where both actively worked on the transfer market during the winter break. Now Hochstetter refused to renew his contract with Hannover without specific reasons. Let us remember that in the summer Advocaat met with Hochstetter to discuss the possibility of acquiring the Hungarian midfielder Hushti.
Prepared by Ivan Zhidkov
Each club treats the need to have the position of sports director on its staff differently. For example, Zenit did not hide the fact that one of the key roles in the creation of the 2007 champion team was played by the club’s then sports director, Konstantin Sarsania.
A similar situation occurred in 2008 at Rubin, in whose gold Rustem Saimanov (who was arrested in May) invested a significant part of his labor. After winning the championship, the head coach of the Rubies, Kurban Berdyev, especially noted the work of Saimanov, who managed to resolve many issues related to selection in the off-season (in particular, he persuaded Gekdeniz Karadeniz to come to Kazan) and the life of the club as a whole. In the summer, Saimanov was replaced in this role by Mukhsin Mukhamadiev, but they forgot to mention the achievements of the former Russian national team forward and ex-Vityaz coach on the banks of the Volga. Either Mukhamadiev was taken as a formal figure in order to simply close the gap that had formed, or Mukhsin Muslimovich simply did not have time to prove himself in a new role...
In most Premier League clubs, the situation with sporting directors looks different, and in some there is no such position at all. CSKA, Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv, Krylya Sovetov and Tom did not have it in their official application for the last championship, and a number of other clubs parted ways with their sporting directors at the end of the season. It is difficult to judge the results of their work from the outside, because each has its own range of tasks. Including selection. For example, it is obvious that the now former sports director of the Citizens, Vladimir Fedotov, had a direct connection to the arrival of midfielder Alexei Rebko in Moscow.
Prepared by Roman Loginov
