Kaleshin was fired from his post as coach of FC Akron after criticizing the football system in the Russian Federation

Togliatti football club Melbet – First League “Akron” terminated the contract with head coach Evgeny Kaleshin due to “disagreements in the development path”, reported press service teams. Akron currently ranks third in the league standings. On November 18, Mr. Kaleshin said after the match with Astrakhan Volgar that football in Russia “seems to be falling apart on purpose.”

A video with a commentary by Evgeny Kaleshin following the match between Akron and Volgar, which ended in a 0:1 victory for the Astrakhan team, was published on YouTube channel Tolyatti club. The coach, in particular, stated that Akron did not deserve the defeat and accused the referee of erroneously counting Volgar’s goal.

“I’ll tell you this: when you’ve been in football for a long time, you understand what’s going on. But, unfortunately, such a system in Russia and the way it works, it is impossible to go openly. To break this system, you need to break it from the inside… Football is degrading. It’s as if they’re deliberately destroying it. Just as in Russia both education and the army are falling apart, sports are also falling apart in the same way,” Mr. Kaleshin said at a press conference.

When asked by a journalist what system he was talking about, the coach said that he meant the football system in Russia. He expressed the opinion that it must be fought. “She’s like a Trojan horse,” he added.

45-year-old Evgeniy Kaleshin began his football career as a football player. He played as a defender, in particular, in Yaroslavl “Shinnik”, Nalchik “Spartak”, Tomsk “Tom”, Samara “Wings of the Soviets” and “Krasnodar”. He began his coaching career in 2014 at the Krasnodar farm club. He also coached the first team of “Krasnodar”, Krasnodar “Kuban” and “Urozhay”, Kaliningrad “Baltika”, “Tver”. Came to Akron in 2022.

Erdni Kagaltynov