Rustam Minnikhanov: ‘The football centre will meet international requirements’
A football arena named after the outstanding coach N. Sentyabryov was opened in Kazan
A football arena named after Nikolai Sentyabryov opened at the base of Rubin football club on 16 June, in Kazan. The ceremony was attended by Rais of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin and Minister of Sports Vladimir Leonov. Details are in Realnoe Vremya’s report.
Rubin’s football arena named after Sentyabryov was delivered in June
The Kazan regiment of football arenas has been replenished. Today, the Rubin football arena named after Sentyabryov has been added to the Maksat and the Iskander football and rugby arena. Nikolay Sentyabryov. The club president Marat Safiullin recalled the merits of the legendary Rubin coach from 1959 to 1971, emphasizing that Nikolay Osyanin and Ilyas Galimov were brought up in those years. This is what is put at the forefront when the republic opens another sports facility.
The arenas are being built as part of an agreement on football development between the republic, the Ministry of Sports and the Russian Football Union. Four facilities are to be commissioned this year, resolving the issue of full coverage of the republic with football departments. At the beginning of the year, there were four districts of Tatarstan that did not have such complexes.
Usually, super clubs do not strain themselves in the process of educating talented youth, entrusting this matter to their academies, and themselves, like vultures, pounce on less prestigious teams, buying up their leaders. However, the academies of super clubs do not bother to prepare talented guys, attacking less prestigious academies.
There is also an example in this regard: Leonid Salikhov from Nizhnekamsk, who stood out among his local peers for his game thinking, speed, and shot, and is now considered one of the best players in the Youth Football League, only he plays for a Moscow team, which will eventually call him its alumnus. But this is the next step, after building the infrastructure, saturating it with high-quality coaching staff and resolving the legal side of the issue with signing contracts, paying scholarships, so that no one can be lured away.
A powerful coaching workshop of the academy has been assembled
The coaching workshop of the Rubin Academy is being assembled to be a sight to behold. Under the leadership of Niyaz Akbarov, who became so skilled in the process of managing youth football that he was in great demand in Russian Premier League clubs, having worked in Rostov-on-Don and Khimki. His closest assistant is Rustem Khuzin, a man with experience as a head coach in the Premier League and the Football National League and successful work in youth football. In 2012, his team became the silver medallist of the Russian championship among reserves.
Recently, the winner of the Copa Libertadores among youth teams, Yuri Solano, returned to Kazan. In 2020, his team, Independiente del Valle, beat the famous Colo-Colo from Chile, in the semi-finals — Brazilian Flamengo, and in the final — Argentine River Plate, 2:1. What is important: unlike many victories of Russian youth teams, which are often important only in the moment and end after winning the prestigious trophy, Yuri Solano's charges are developing. In the recent Champions League final, former Rubin player Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Yuri Solano's charge Ecuadorian Willan Pacho played for the victorious PSG.
Another of his students, Moises Caicedo, became the winner of the Conference League with Chelsea. In addition to them, Luis Cano (Fiorentina), Steven Plaza (Valladolid), and Piero Hincapie (Bayer, Leverkusen) played under Solano's leadership.
Vitaly Nikitin, Airat Sabirzyanov, and more recently Aleksandr Bukharov, who recently recalled: “At the Confederations Cup in Kazan, we went out to play against Mexico together with Timur Fatykhov. He was 8 years old then, now he is 16, and I am coaching him. He reminded me of this fact, Timur has a photo from that match. I was surprised, but this is such a connection of times, continuity of generations in action.”
If we cannot saturate the football market with football players, we will train female football players following Alsu Abdullina, referees like Nadezhda Gorinova. The football market is huge, everyone will be useful to it.
Rustam Minnikhanov: “Let the fate of our young footballers be connected with Rubin”
Rustam Minnikhanov, who came to the opening of the arena of the rrais of Tatarstan, made a symbolic kick of the ball and inspected the complex. “The opening of the football arena named after Sentyabryov is a significant event for Tatarstan. This is a good sign and the beginning of a large project of the Football Centre, which will meet all international requirements. The work is being carried out with the active position of Marat Safiullin, the project has received the support of the country's leadership, the chairman of the government, the Russian Ministry of Sports and the Republic of Tatarstan is actively involved,” Minnikhanov noted. After the official speech, he asked to applaud the builders and complained: “The applause was weak. And they still have a lot to build. Look, what if they build it poorly,” he joked. The crowd was immediately moved and thanked him with an ovation.
What is curious: even in the championship years of Rubin, the football infrastructure did not reach the level to which the champion team rose. Therefore, I would like to correct one of the VIP guests who mistakenly said that Rubin hosted such superclubs as Atletico and Chelsea. 12 years ago, we could not afford this, and the matches were held in Moscow. Now the infrastructure is gradually overtaking the team's sports results. We express a common wish that soon all the components of a large football club will be equal.
It should be added to Minnikhanov's words that the arena is only the first completed facility, and in general the construction of the Football Development Centre should be completed by 31 August. Judging by the applause, there is a general interest in the facility.