Zinetula Bilyaletdinov left the post of head coach of HC Ak Bars – Kommersant

Zinetula Bilyaletdinov announced that he is leaving the position of head coach of the Kazan hockey club Ak Bars, reports press service teams.

“Working as a coach requires a lot of strength and emotion, it’s a big responsibility. It will be better for me if I continue to work in hockey, but only in a different format. For me, working as a head coach is already enough,” said Mr. Bilyaletdinov.

At the end of the 2023/2024 season of the regular championship of the Kontinental Hockey League, Ak Bars, under the leadership of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, took fourth place in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs of the Gagarin Cup, the Kazan club was eliminated in the 1/8 finals, losing to Avtomobilist from Yekaterinburg with a score of 1:4 in the series.

Zinetula Bilyaletdinov was born on March 13, 1955 in Moscow. He spent his entire career as a hockey player with Dynamo Moscow. He played for the USSR national team, with which he won the Olympic Games in 1984, became world champion six times, and European champion eight times.

As a coach, Mr. Bilyaletdinov once became the champion of Russia with the capital Dynamo and four times with Ak Bars. He won the Gagarin Cup three times with the Kazan club. In 2004 and 2011–2014, he coached the Russian national team, with which he won the World Cup in 2012.

Erdni Kagaltynov