With the arrival of Kurban Berdyev, serious changes are coming to FC Sochi, another sponsor left PFC Kuban, FC Chernomorets claims to be promoted

The old one is not fired yet – the new one changes everything

The restructuring of Sochi begins. This is not surprising, because the new team coach Kurban Berdyev is known as the specialist who tries to control everything in the club to the smallest detail. The Turkmen specialist wanted to return the nineteen-year-old midfielder of the Wings of the Soviets Alexander Kovalenko to the camp of the “resorts”. The midfielder belongs to Sochi, but is now on loan. The agreement is calculated until the end of the season, and there is no clause on the possibility of early termination. Thus, Krylya Sovetov can keep him until the end of the 2022/23 season. Samarans are not going to give Kovalenko away, but they can change their mind if Boris Rotenberg, the owner of Sochi, agrees with the head of the Samara region Dmitry Azarov. At least that’s what some media outlets think.

This season, the midfielder has two goals and three assists in twenty matches for the Samara club in all competitions. He also made his debut for the Russian national team in a friendly match against Kyrgyzstan.

The fate of the former Sochi head coach Alexander Tochilin is unclear. The mentor said that he had not yet been fired from the club.

– My vacation continues. My fate will become known after the New Year: only then we go to work – then there will be a meeting with the leadership. Now everyone is resting. So far, I have not talked to anyone from the leadership on this topic,” said Alexander Tochilin.

Recall that Tochilin worked as a head coach formally – de facto, the functions of the helmsman were performed by Vadim Garanin. He just doesn’t have a pro license, which allows him to lead a Premier League team.

Players who came to Sochi with Garanin can go on loan. So, this summer, Timofey Shipunov, Amir Batyrev, Daniil Martov moved south from Tver. In total, the three of them have eleven matches played for the team.

– Now they stay and go through the first training camp together with the team. There, a new head coach will look at them, after which a decision will be made whether to leave them or rent them out. It is important that the club only considers rent. There is no talk of terminating the contract or selling it,” said Andrey Talaev, the players’ agent.

Sochi will hold its first winter training camp at home in January. First, the team will traditionally engage in physical training at its base on the Black Sea coast. Then the southerners will go to Abu Dhabi, where they will take part in a commercial tournament.

Without coach, CEO and sponsor

News about the professional football club “Kuban” has recently appeared in the media infrequently. Nevertheless, the team continues to play in the First League. True, once the main football team of the Krasnodar Territory has nothing to brag about.

The current season “yellow-green” started encouragingly. The first match, played at home in mid-July against recently retired Ufa from the Premier League, ended in a landslide victory (2-0). But then it became clear that the season failed. Followed by a series of defeats, goalless draws and rare victories. For twenty rounds played in the First League, Kuban managed to win only four times, and lose eleven times. At the same time, the team missed a little. The most devastating defeats were meetings with Rubin (3: 0) and Veles (3: 1).

In the Cup of Russia, the situation was no better. First, Kuban beat Tekstilshchik on penalties (0 : 0 (2 : 4)), then Shinnik (0 : 0 (4 : 5)), but already in one eighth of the final lost to Ulyanovsk Volga (1 : 4) 2) and left the tournament.

Naturally, such results could not please anyone. Before the last match of 2022, the Kuban head coach was fired. No one was taken to take his place. The last game this year, “Kuban” won with a minimum score against the same Ulyanovsk “Volga” and after twenty rounds settled with nineteen points in fifteenth place in the standings, that is, in the relegation zone. By the way, in the last, eighteenth place there is Krasnodar-2.

In December, the main sponsor, AVA Group, left the “yellow-greens”. The fact that the developer received a football club as a social burden was clear from the outset. It is not clear why the company suddenly decided to abandon such a load. Eduard Safonov left the post of general director of the club. The functionary has held this position since January of this year. In such a disassembled state, the “yellow-green” are currently.

There is talk that soon the club will have a new sponsor. Perhaps it will be the Sinara diversified holding. But he will get the club again in the social load. And this means, as for past sponsors, he will be perceived as a burden, on which they will try to spend less money and effort.

Went upstairs, got close to Dynamo

The season is much better for another football club from the Krasnodar Territory – Chernomorets. True, the Novorossiysk players have a lower rank tournament. Recall that in September Chornomorets found a new sponsor. They became a local businessman, politician, president of the Delo group of companies Sergey Shishkarev. Andrey Kravchenko, mayor of Novorossiysk, became the new president of the club. Three-time champion of Russia, winner of the UEFA Cup Konstantin Zyryanov was invited to the post of head coach of Chornomorets. With the new coach, the club won all the next eight matches in the first group of the Second League. After eighteen rounds, Chornomorets, with 45 points, takes first place in the standings, having five points ahead of the nearest pursuer, Peschanokopskaya Chaika. Most likely, Novorossiysk will hold the lead until the end of the season and will play in the First League next year.

From the cup “Chernomorets” took off at 1/32 stages. First, the team beat Druzhba (2: 0), then the Stavropol Dynamo (1: 2), but lost with a minimum score to Yenisei. So far, this is Zyryanov’s only defeat at the wheel of the Novorossiysk team.

Meanwhile, repairs began at the Central Stadium, the home arena of Chornomorets. The reconstruction of the under-tribune premises has already begun. The club’s management plans to bring the stadium to the standards of the second category. This will allow the matches of the First League to be held on it. Now the stadium has a standard of the third category.

Also, “Chernomorets” signed a cooperation agreement with the capital “Dynamo”. The clubs agreed to work together in children’s, youth and professional football. The clubs also began to cooperate in the work of medical departments, catering for teams, in marketing and commercial activities. The agreement also involves the use of partner infrastructure and the exchange of experience in the field of professional football.