Moldova fights the coaching tide
The Football Association of Moldova (FAM) is hoping local coaches will benefit from their training programmes as the 2007/08 season gets into full swing.
Early start
Moldova were the first side to kick off their 2007/08 season, with the opening round of games being played on 4 July, but the summer was to be a torrid one for the coaches. Following a reasonably stable season, five of the 12 Divizia Nationala clubs appointed new bosses during the break between seasons, with two of the nation's top sides opting to look outside of Moldova.
Top jobs
Belarussian Leonid Kuchuk is still in charge of champions FC Sheriff while arch-rivals CSF Zimbru Chisinau have appointed Ukrainian Olexander Sevidov to replace Alexandr Curtean. The 38-year-old has become the third Ukrainian to take charge of the club following Semen Altman and Olexander Skripnik's spells in charge in the 1990s. "I liked club's strategic goal - working with young players," he explained. "There are lots of talented youngsters here - some 20-year-olds already play for Moldova, while others feature in the Under-19 and U21 national teams."
Two draws each
Sevidov has not made a great start to the season, with Zimbru kicking off their campaign with two successive draws, while 43-year-old Russian coach Valeriy Zazdravnykh has made exactly the same start after replacing Nicolae Bunea as coach of FC Nistru Otaci, who finished third last term, behind Sheriff and Zimbru. The appointments of Sevidov and Zazdravnykh mean that five of the 12 top-tier teams are now led by foreign coaches but the FAM are making efforts to make local talent more attractive for clubs. In his role as director of coach education, former Moldova coach Ivan Daniliant has been running courses to help get young would-be managers get up to speed.
Long-term plan
Sergei Kirillov, who recently retired as a player, earned a licence with the help of the FAM and has already found a first job as assistant to newly-appointed Moldova U21 coach Ilija Karp. Karp returned home to take up his new post after spells in Belarus and Azerbaijan. The hope for the future is that Moldova will produce better coaches and create sufficient job opportunities to dissuade the best of them – like Alexandr Matiura and Alexandru Spiridon, who work as assistant coaches at FC Rubin Kazan and FC Shakhtar Donetsk - from moving abroad. // UEFA
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