This week was marked by the official appointment of Kurban Berdyev to the post of head coach of Turan Tovuz. The old specialist will go down in the history of Azerbaijani football as the 4th Russian to lead our clubs.
Idman.biz presents the Azerbaijani adventures of Berdyev’s compatriots.
Late Debut
Despite the fact that our clubs started holding an independent championship in 1992, and the first foreign head coach entered Azerbaijan in the 2001/02 season, Russian specialists discovered our Premier League late. This is not without reason. Russian coaches do not dazzle with their work outside their country anyway. Therefore, Azerbaijani clubs did not need a country that does not boast of a strong coaching school. This does not mean that Russian coaches are weak. But they are not in leading roles in Europe either. Therefore, the debut of the first Russian in our clubs took place in the 2011/12 season.
Good striker, average coach
Sergey Yuran was one of those who gained sympathy in Azerbaijan as well as everywhere in the CIS as a football player. The specialist who came to Azerbaijan as a head coach was not remembered for the results worthy of sympathy. Yuran, who was invited by Simurg with hopes, was already dismissed after the XXI round. This was caused by the fact that there were only 5 victories, a defeat in the first match in the cup, in short, an unsuccessful Zagatala career. His failure in our country showed that a good striker is no more than a mediocre coach.
Ground-breaking old
It can be expected that Yuran’s failure in Azerbaijan will reduce the trust in Russian experts in Azerbaijan. But Yuriy Semin appeared in the Premier League less than a year and a half after his departure. The 66-year-old "old man" took the "helm" of "Gabala", which had no success until that time. Of course, Semin was not Yuran. This is evidenced by the great difference in their coaching careers. The road leading the Red Blacks to success started with the Russian. For the first time, a medal - bronze was won in the Premier League. The team lost to Neftchi in the penalty shootout in the final of the cup. Semin, who led his team to 21 victories in 44 matches and paved the way for their success in the following years, left for his homeland without waiting for his debut in the Eurocups.
Love for "Red"
After Semin, the Russians' road to Azerbaijan was closed. About 7 years after he said goodbye to Gabala, Murad Musayev appeared in Baku. He accepted the "helm" of Sabah, which often changes the head coach. During the 2021/22 season, the coach who came to our country fully worked on the next championship. Musayev, who said goodbye to his club in the second half of the 2023/24 season, won 48 victories in 87 games with his team. But the specialist, who made a name for himself with his madness and could not stay without getting a red card, watched some of these matches from outside the technical zone due to the penalty. Musayev, who led Sabah to win the first medal in their history - silver, was also happy about the prestigious award from Semin. Advancing in the European Cup should also be written on his asset. Despite being crazy, the specialist, who is also quite successful, left the Baku club because he could not compete with Qarabag and because he was interested in his native Krasnodar.
It is interesting that all three of the Russians have accepted teams that are considered mediocre. Yuran failed, and Semin and Musayev justified the trust in them and brought the club to the list of contenders. Now it's 72-year-old Berdyev’s turn. Like his compatriots, he came to an average team.
Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz
