Russian Football

Fatos Bećiraj – More Than Just Kokorin’s Replacement?

With the departure of Aleksandr Kokorin to Zenit, Dinamo strongly needed to strengthen their offensive line, as Pavel Pogrebnyak and youngster Nikolai Obolsky were their only attacking options. During the winter, many players were linked with the Moscow club, for example, Rostov’s Dmitriy Poloz as well as Terek’s Igor Lebedenko, but none of them found an agreement with the white-blues. For a while it looked like Dinamo would have to settle with the two Russians, which is why it came as a surprise whenVijesti reported that Montenegrin striker Fatos Bećiraj was set to join Dinamo. The deal was finalized in just a couple of days and Dinamo coach Andrey Kobelov’s wish for a new striker came true. However, Bećiraj is a completely different player than Kokorin, hence the question is now whether he’ll be able to replace the Russian international or not.

Born 27 years ago in Peć (Kosovo) in an Albanian family, the young Fatos had to make some important decisions when he was a child. Despite being a great fan of basketball, at the age of 10 he decided to take his first steps in football. Consequently, he tested himself in almost all positions, but quickly realized that scoring goals was what made him happy. Bećiraj’s first professional club was the local team KF Shqiponja, but thanks to his good performances, he joined their city rivals KF Besa two years later. However, he spent just six months in his native Kosovo as Montenegrin giants FK Budućnost Podgorica signed him to play for the most popular team in the country.

After moving to Budućnost, he started to increase his body size and makes progress in leaps and bounds, allowing him establish himself as a starter on the team. In the 2008-09 season, he became the top scorer of the Prva Liga with 18 goals. At this point, it was clear that Bećiraj had outgrown the Montenegrin League, and so on 30 August 2010 he signed for Dinamo Zagreb for a €700,000 transfer fee.

In his first season in Croatia, Bećiraj became a key player and scored his first goal for the Montenegrin National Team on November 17th against Azerbaijan. In 2011, he put his name on the score sheet against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, scoring Dinamo’s first goal in that Champions League edition. In the same season, he became the first foreign Prva HNL top scorer with 15 goals in 28 appearances. During his stint in Zagreb, Bećiraj won the Croatian Cup twice (2010-11, 2011-12) and the Croatian League three times (2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13), establishing himself as one of the best forwards in the Balkans.

His good performances didn’t go unnoticed, and in February 2014 he agreed to join Chinese side Changchun Yatai F.C., who shelled out around €1.5 million to Dinamo Zagreb. Looking back, this is where Bećiraj’s career took a turn.

After seven goals in 28 games, Bećiraj returned to Europe as a free agent in January 2015 as he signed a two year contract with Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk. In Belarus, he set various personal objectives such as learning Russian and creating a warm bond with the fans of the club. In return, the team welcomed him with open arms in the hope of finally finding the missing piece of the puzzle to steal the title from BATE Borisov.

“I know that this is the greatest club in Belarus.” The 26-year-old striker explained after moving to Minsk. “I’m in the best years of my career, which is why I opted for a move out of China. I want to play in European competitions again. A couple of years ago I was close to signing for Benfica, but in the end, the transfer collapsed. I think Europe is safer and funnier than China.”

In his second game for Dinamo, he scored a hat-trick against Vitebsk, and soon after he scored the decisive goals in the Europa League preliminary rounds against Cherno More and FC Zürich. He finished the season with 22 goals in 49 appearances, while also making ten assists. Thanks to the contribution of Bećiraj, the Minsk club managed to defeat BATE at Borisov Arena, but unfortunately they lost several points against weaker sides, which meant the title stayed in Borisov. At the end of the season, Bećiraj summed up his year in Belarus: “It was a long season. I’m a bit tired. We started in January, and we finished in December. This has been the longest season of my career. The head coach relied on me in each game, and I missed just five matches in the whole year. We managed to beat very strong teams like Cherno More, FC Zürich and FC Red Bull Salzburg. We could have done better at times, as we lacked a bit of luck. I don’t want to say this is my best season ever. I had both ups and downs. I spent the first six months settling down in Belarus, but I’m pleased of my achievements.”

After the season, Dinamo fans named him their player of the year. Unfortunately, the Minsk side faced some financial problems this winter that brought a revolution to the team. Captain Sergey Politevich moved to Turkish outfit Gençlerbirliği, left back Maksim Vitus signed for Croatian FC Spalato, young midfielder Nikita Korzun joined Dinamo Kiev, while the big Bećiraj opted for Dynamo Moscow, after he failed to agree personal terms with the Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv. Before leaving Minsk, Bećiraj scored the decisive goal against Neman Grodno in the Belarusian Cup, which qualified Dinamo for the quarterfinals that are played in March.

Therefore, on February 18, the 27-year-old striker signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the Blue-Whites of Moscow for around €450,000 together with Swedish defender Sebastian Holmén.

“I’m really happy to be in Dinamo.” He said at his official presentation at the club. “This is a top club with a great history and glorious traditions. I’ll do 100 % for my new team. I hope we can reach positive results. Many good players played and are playing for Dinamo. I used to watch RPL when I was in Belarus. Of course, I watched Dinamo’s games. I wore number 21 at both Zagreb and in Minsk. Hence, I was glad to pick this number in Moscow as well. The tradition will continue. Dinamo are the most serious club of my career. I hope my performances here can help me earn a call for the Montenegrin national team.”

After his first training session with the rest of the squad, he said: “This is the third Dinamo in my career. I’ve scored many goals in both Zagreb and Minsk, but I hope to do even better in Moscow.”

With the start of the Russian Premier League only a week away, it will be interesting to see whether Bećiraj will make a positive impact at Dinamo, as he is going to fight with an experienced player like Pogrebnyak for a spot in the starting line-up. There are however also other options, as Kobelov used him on the wing in his unofficial debut for the White-Blues in a friendly against Strømgodset from Norway. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that he’ll overcome the current wingers Aleksey Ionov and Aleksandr Tashaev in the wingers’ hierarchy. Bećiraj is physically strong, and thanks to his pace and technical skills he could also play together with Pogrebnyak up front. Although some football experts have compared Bećiraj to Juventus striker Mario Mandžukić, the Montenegrin striker could provide more assists to his teammates than the Croatian forward does. His experience from the Champions League demonstrates his reliability and furthermore, that he is used to fight for the highest tasks. After having played in minor leagues such as the Chinese and the Belarusian ones, Bećiraj seems motivated to finally take the last steps up the ladder towards greatness. The Montenegrin tank is not in Moscow to replace Kokorin, he is there to enter the hearts of the third Dinamo in his career.

New FIFA president says Russia, Qatar World Cups not changing

Gianni Infantino has confirmed the next two World Cups will still take place in Russia, Qatar.

New FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed the next two World Cups will still take place in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

Russia and Qatar won the right to host the tournaments in a controversial vote in Zurich in December 2010.

Swiss prosecutors are investigating the bidding processes for the two tournaments.

Infantino went to FIFA's headquarters as the president for the first time on Monday. After playing up front in a celebratory football game, he said FIFA would be pressing ahead with organizing the tournaments in Russia and Qatar.

Last March the FIFA executive committee decided to move the 2022 tournament to the winter months because of the summer heat in Qatar.

The move was recommended by a FIFA task force headed by Infantino's election rival Sheikh Salman of Bahrain.  

Порядка 10 тысяч зрителей ожидается на матче КР между "Уфой" и ЦСКА - Газизов

Контекст

МОСКВА, 29 фев - Р-Спорт, Николай Рязанцев. Порядка 8-10 тысяч болельщиков должны посетить четвертьфинальный матчКубка России по футболу между "Уфой" и московским ЦСКА, заявил агентству "Р-Спорт" генеральный директор команды из столицы Башкортостана Шамиль Газизов.

Встреча пройдет во вторник в Уфе на стадионе "Нефтяник", вмещающем 15 тысяч зрителей.

"Подходим к матчу в хорошем состоянии, - сказал Газизов по телефону. - Клуб сделал все возможное и невозможное, чтобы этот матч состоялся, и стадион готов на сто процентов принять матч Кубка России. Мы ждем порядка 8-10 тысяч болельщиков, и надеемся, что на поле будет красивая игра. Надеюсь, что завтра мы покажем хорошую игру и выйдем в полуфинал турнира".

Также Газизов оценил зимнюю трансферную кампанию уфимцев, во время которой клуб пополнился грузинским вратарем Георгием Шелией и полузащитниками Владимиром Зубаревым и Дмитрием Сысуевым.

"Оцениваю трансферную кампанию неоднозначно, - отметил собеседник агентства. - Мы хотели ее чуть-чуть по-другому провести, но в связи с определенной финансовой ситуацией, которая сейчас в России, мы пошли по такому пути. Считаю, что мы приобрели очень хороших футболистов, которые на сегодня являются игроками основного состава, мы сохранили, кого хотели и двигаемся дальше".

Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	G	P
1	CSKA Moskva	18	11	4	3	29	18	+11	37
2	Rostov	18	10	4	4	23	16	+7	34
3	Lokomotiv Moskva	18	9	5	4	30	23	+7	32
4	Spartak Moskva	18	9	3	6	26	23	+3	30
5	Krasnodar	18	8	6	4	29	19	+10	30
6	Zenit	18	8	6	4	34	23	+11	30
7	Terek Grozny	18	6	10	2	25	17	+8	28
8	Ural	18	7	5	6	28	28	+0	26
9	Rubin Kazan'	18	6	2	10	20	25	-5	20
10	Amkar Perm'	18	5	5	8	16	22	-6	20
11	Dinamo Moskva	18	4	8	6	20	25	-5	20
12	Krylya Sovetov	18	5	4	9	12	20	-8	19
13	Ufa	18	3	7	8	16	28	-12	16
14	Anzhi	18	3	6	9	18	31	-13	15
15	Kuban' Krasnodar	18	2	9	7	25	28	-3	15
16	Mordovia Saransk	18	2	8	8	19	24	-5	14