For several months now, Oleg Kuznetsov has been on sabbatical. The UAF, where Oleg Volodymyrovych has worked for more than 20 years, did not extend his contract.
Oleg KuznetsovThere is a suspicion that the decision of the Association's leadership was influenced by the situation with Borussia Dortmund U-19 midfielder Danylo Krevesun, who was not invited to the Euro 2024 qualifying matches. It got to the point where the legendary Dynamo player was accused of bias behind his back, saying that the experienced coach is a puppeteer for a leading football agency run by Vadym Shabliy.
Allegedly, if this agency offers a young player a contract and the player does not accept it, his chances of getting into the youth national team are significantly reduced. To put this issue to rest, Champion recruited Kuznetsov, who just turned 61 today.
- Mr Oleg, when did you find out that the UAF would not extend your contract?
- When the HR department called and asked me to come and pick up my documents. I took it with understanding. The contract ended, a new team came to the UAF. A new head coach with his own ideas. I was an employee. What were the problems?
- Do you think the management's decision was influenced by the Krevsun story?
- Perhaps. I believe that the journalist is also to blame, as he took my words out of context. Of course, we knew about Krevsun. He was on the expanded list of the national team 4 years ago. And I do not retract my words. In Germany, potential candidates are monitored by experienced professionals with whom we have been working fruitfully for over 15 years. These are absolutely unbiased football people. They did not recommend inviting Danylo to me at that time. The statement that we do not follow Ukrainians in Germany is nonsense. We invited our guy from Wuppertal to the match against Malta. And we were not disappointed. Although Wuppertal is not a leading team in Germany.
- But there were rumours in the football world about the involvement of youth national team coaches from a leading football agency run by Vadym Shabliy. Were there any grounds for these rumours?
- My conscience is clear. I have worked for the FFU/UAF for over 20 years. During all this time, I have not taken a single penny from either agents or the parents of players. If anyone has any doubts about this, let them provide facts. Even under Surkis, the FFU had a policy that coaches should minimise their communication with agents. Under Pavelko at the UAF, this trend continued. And there will always be people dissatisfied with the decisions of coaches. Both agents and parents of players who did not receive an invitation to the national team. This reaction is quite understandable to me.
- How is your daughter Kateryna, who was successfully building her acting career in Russia before the full-scale war, but after 24 February ended her cooperation with the aggressor country?
- Now Katya is in Kyiv. She is on the set. Before that, she also regularly came to the capital of Ukraine for filming. Some of them lasted for 4 months. After the outbreak of the full-scale war, Katya and her husband moved from Russia to Spain and rented an apartment there.
- You turned down an offer to play for the Russian national team more than 30 years ago. Was there any temptation?
- No, there was no temptation. Alexey Mikhailichenko and I turned it down right away. We made it clear that we were not interested. The offer came from the then president of the Russian Football Federation, Koloskov. They offered apartments in Moscow, money. But Oleksiy and I were already playing for Glasgow Rangers at the time. Many of our team-mates played for the Scottish national team. Among the Scottish teammates, there was not a single one who wore an England shirt. This example was quite enough for us.
- You signed a contract with Rangers in 1990. How much did the Scots pay for your transfer to Dynamo Kyiv?
- They did not inform me about this. According to rumours, a million dollars. The Scots had been following me for two years. At that time, it was a very powerful team. The following season, Mykhailychenko came to Glasgow. In the previous season, when I was asked if he would strengthen Rangers, I did not believe that the Scots would be able to buy his transfer from Sampdoria. Let me remind you that Sampdoria won the Italian championship that season. But Rangers had no financial problems, bought the transfer and soon Mykhailychenko and I were playing for the team together.
- In 4 seasons, you played only 35 matches for Rangers, but became Scottish champions 4 times. You scored twice, and those were legendary stories. Do you remember them?
- The first one was when I signed a contract with Rangers. According to the agreements between the clubs, Dynamo and I came to Ibrox Stadium to play a friendly match. My teammates decided that I would wear the captain's armband for this game. I was amazed by the atmosphere - the friendly match at the 50,000-capacity Ibrox was a sell-out.
Then it was like a fairy tale. 5th minute of the match, we have a counterattack. I passed the ball to Protasov and ran forward. Oleg passed it to me, and I hit the back of the net from 26 metres. The stadium went wild. The fans already knew that I was joining Rangers. 50 thousand Scots all stood up as one and clapped their hands for a long time. I've seen a lot of things, but I've never been greeted like that! We won 3-1. After the match, I signed a personal contract with Rangers.
- You scored your second and only goal in an official match for Rangers on 1 January 1994 in the famous Old Firm derby with Celtic. In the first half, Mykhailichenko made a double. But there was a special story with your goal, wasn't there?
- I came on as a substitute in the 70th minute and scored a cannonball in 6 minutes, Rangers won 4-2. Before I scored, a fashionable local restaurateur, Sattiv Singh, publicly promised to name his newborn son after the next Rangers goal. And he kept his word. Recently, I was sent a photo of Oleg Singh - he is already 30 years old.
- Serhiy Baltacha admitted to me that at Ipswich Town, where he arrived in 1988, he received only £1,000 a week, that is, £4,000 a month. How much did you earn at Rangers?
- "Rangers at that time was on the level of Liverpool and Manchester United. I played in the Champions League all the time. The team had players from the England national team. So the salary was appropriate - more than $200,000 a year. It is a pity that in his second match for Jersey he was seriously injured. I tore my cruciate ligaments. One of the most nasty injuries. I recovered until the end of the season. And, to be honest, I was never able to reach my previous Dynamo level.
- You turned 61 today. What was your most memorable birthday?
- On my 50th birthday, I gathered friends in a restaurant in the centre of Kyiv. In the evening, a natural disaster struck. The city was covered with snow. There was a record amount of precipitation. The snow drifts were as tall as a man. Cars could not get through. Some people spent the whole night getting home. The next day, we went skiing and snowboarding down Andriyivskyi Descent, just like in the Carpathians.
- What is your main birthday wish?
- I think all Ukrainians have the same wish now. For the war to end and for us to start living in peace. I have many friends in the Armed Forces. We raise money and help them.
Maxim ROSENKO
