Cycle of coaches: several RPL clubs will resume the season with new mentors

Problem schedule

The Russian Football Union and the Russian Premier League have published the schedule of matches for the Russian Cup and the League championship after the end of the winter break, which has never been longer due to the World Cup in Qatar. Football will return to the stadiums on February 22, when the first cup matches will take place. Rostov will host Ural at home, while Lokomotiv will play Spartak. And the next day, no less interesting meetings await us between Wings of the Soviets and Dynamo, as well as CSKA and Krasnodar.

It would seem, what wonderful news: the long-awaited and beloved football is back. However, there are a couple of questions: why are these most interesting matches again held on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, except for the game between Loko and Spartak? And secondly, why play the Cup again at the end of February, when it’s cold even in southern Rostov-on-Don? Moreover, after the exclusion from the FIFA and UEFA tournaments, we definitely have nowhere to hurry. And it would be quite possible to start playing the Cup at least in the middle of March.

As for the championship games, they will be held according to the calendar plan approved before the start of the tournament. Round 18 kicks off on March 3 with Fakel vs. Khimki. By the way, in Voronezh at this time of the year there are also no tropics, and the stadium near Fakel is old. I would like to believe that his lawn for the match will not be covered with sand tinted green instead of thick green grass. I really want to, but it doesn’t work very well. But in fairness, it must be said that the League staff tried to adapt the schedule to the weather conditions as much as possible. And in the rest of the matches, Akhmat will play at home with Orenburg, Rostov with Lokomotiv, Zenit at its indoor super arena with Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar with Torpedo, and Sochi – with CSKA. And the games “Spartak” – “Ural” and “Dynamo” – “Wings …” are still better to watch at the capital’s stadiums, as planned in the schedule. The same can be said about the 19th round, starting on March 10th. In it, again, the largest possible number of games will be held in the south of Russia.

At the same time, there were reports in the media about the plans of our team for 2023. TASS published the news that the RFU for 2023 tentatively provides for five training camps and five friendly matches for the Karpinsky squad. At the moment, preliminary dates have been determined in which the national team can hold these games – from March 25 to 28, from June 17 to 20, from August 31 to September 8, from October 15 to 18 and from November 19 to 22.

The start of the next season-2023/24 in the RPL is tentatively scheduled for July 22, when the match for the Russian Super Cup will take place. This was also reported to TASS by the RFU. After that, in a couple of days, the Cup of Russia will most likely start. And a week later, on July 28, the RPL championship itself will begin. Simultaneously with the first and second divisions.

old acquaintances

Who will prepare the players for these exciting games?

Only two weeks have passed since the New Year, and several teams have already officially appointed new coaches.

Watching this process is extremely exciting. From time to time it reminds one of the fundamental laws of hydrostatics about communicating vessels.

Last autumn, Lokomotiv sank to the bottom, finishing the first part of the tournament in 14th place. On November 8, the German specialist Zinnbauer left the team, and the club’s management opted for the head coach of Nizhny Novgorod and the youth team, Mikhail Galaktionov. It was rumored that the governor of Nizhny Novgorod did not want to let him go to Moscow. Since under Mikhail Mikhailovich, who came to Nizhny on June 16, 2022, the whole team was selected. But in the end, a compromise was reached. Galaktionov went to Moscow, and since December 31, the Nizhny Novgorod team has been coached by Artem Gorlov, a student of the well-known Alexander Grigoryan, who previously worked with Yenisei and the oldest Russian club, the Orekhovo-Zuyevo Znamya Truda.

In the new year, a new head coach appeared at Sochi, who, after leaving for CSKA before the start of the season, “professor” Vladimir Fedotov and losing several leading players, constantly failed. What forced the team owner Boris Rotenberg on December 25 to take a radical step – inviting another football professor, an authoritative (and authoritarian too) specialist, a storm of Spanish football giants Kurban Bikievich Berdyev.

Later it became known that Dmitry Kirichenko, Dmitry Khokhlov and Andrey Matsyura were included in Berdyev’s coaching staff.

Kirichenko and Matsyura previously helped Berdyev in the Kazakh “Kairat” and the Iranian “Tractor” and other teams. Dmitry Khokhlov, the RPL champion with Lokomotiv in 2004, spent most of his coaching career at Dynamo and had not previously worked with Berdyev.

Sochi’s neighbor in the standings Krasnodar also started the new year with a new coach. But unlike other “Renovationists”, the owner of the “bulls” Sergei Galitsky decided this time to call a foreigner – Serb Vladimir Ivic. Since the work of Alexander Storozhuk and the 8th place after 17 rounds is not something that can suit the maximalist Galitsky. Krasnodar announced the new coach on January 4.

However, Storozhuk did not remain unemployed for long. First, he was offered to work with Krasndar-2, and on January 14 he was invited to the Tula Arsenal. Struggling for a return from the first division to the RPL and who was coached by Oleg Kononov in the first part of the season. Also well known to us from his work in Krasnodar, Akhmat and Spartak.

The rest of the clubs seem to be unchanged so far. But in our football you can never be sure of anything. And there is a possibility that new coaching permutations, or, hydrostatically speaking, spillovers from one vessel to another can occur at any moment.

Russian Cup Quarterfinal

RPL path

February 22 (Wednesday)

Rostov – Ural 17:30

Lokomotiv – Spartak 20:00

February 23 (Thursday)

Wings of the Soviets – Dynamo 15:00

CSKA – Krasnodar 17:30

February 27 (Monday)

Ural – Rostov 17:00

Spartak – Lokomotiv 20:00

February 28 (Tuesday)

Krasnodar – CSKA 19:30

March 1 (Wednesday)

Dynamo – Krylya Sovetov 20:00

If at the end of two matches the score in the confrontation is a draw, the winner will be determined in a penalty shoot-out, no extra time is played.