Courtesy: UEFA.com


MFK Dinamo Moskva

Sunday 1 February 2009

MFK Dinamo Moskva have not done badly since their formation in May 2002. The capital club have won six straight Russian titles and enjoyed three consecutive runs to the UEFA Futsal Cup final before taking the European crown in 2007.

Coaches
Yuri Rudnev was, as now, in charge, and ensured the club took revenge on the teams that beat them in the previous two European finals, Action 21 Charleroi and Boomerang Interviú, by defeating both to take the 2006/07 title in Murcia. The following season they were picked as final four hosts but lost in the semi-finals on penalties to ElPozo Murcia FS, taking bronze with a defeat of Kairat Almaty. However, they made it six league titles in a row, finishing 20 points clear of third-placed European champions MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg. In January 2009 Rudnev left the club to be replaced by Brazilian Sérgio Sapo, previously in charge of Japan, but the previous incumbent returned in March. Early this month they beat MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg 7-4 on aggregate to retain the Russian Cup.

Key players
The Dinamo squad will be familiar to those who have followed the UEFA Futsal Cup in recent years, with two world-class goalkeepers in Pavel Stepanov and Alexey Popov, defender Pavel Kobzar, Konstantin Maevski, Brazilians Joan plus naturalised Russians Pelé Junior (Futsalplanet note: no more in Moscow), Cirilo and Pula, who claimed the last-gasp final winner against Interviú two years ago not long after signing and was top scorer at the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup. Dinamo were further boosted for 2008/09 with the signing of Vladislav Shayakhmetov, who had inspired Ekaterinburg to UEFA Futsal Cup victory.

Coach: Yuri Rudnev

Date of Birth: 19 December 1954
Nationality: Russian
Playing career: FC Kirovets Leningrad (now St. Petersburg)
Coaching career: FC Kirovets Leningrad, Galaks St. Petersburg, MFK Norilsky Nikel, Finpromko Alfa Ekaterinburg, MFK Spartak Moskva, MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg, MFK Dinamo Moskva, MFK Norilsky Nikel, TTG-Java Yugorsk

Rudnev has a background in the eleven-a-side game and first came to futsal in 1993 at Galaks St. Petersburg. He went on to coach FC Zenit St. Petersburg (1995-99), MFK Norilsky Nikel (1999-00) and Finpromko Alfa Ekaterinburg (2001) before becoming assistant at MFK Spartak Moskva in 2000/01 and helping them to their only title.

Rudnev then moved to MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg, whom he guided to Russian Cup success in 2002 and, after taking over at MFK Dinamo Moskva in June 2003, repeated the feat. Rudnev made it a hat-trick of Russian Cup wins in 2004 when he also won his first league title with Dinamo and, the following year, led them to the UEFA Futsal Cup final, where they lost narrowly to Action 21 Charleroi in April 2005.

In the midst of the two-legged European decider, Moskva clinched the championship again but Rudnev left midway through the subsequent campaign for MFK Norilsky Nikel and swapped clubs again shortly afterwards, beginning the 2006/07 season with TTG-Java Yugorsk. However, Rudnev returned to Dinamo in February 2007 to restore his partnership with Alexander Shibaev, who had taken the helm in his absence and led the club to the UEFA Futsal Cup finals.

Once in Murcia, Dinamo defeated Charleroi in the semis and won a dramatic final 2-1 against Boomerang Interviú, who had beaten Shibaev's side a year before. Further Russian titles followed that season and in 2007/08, although they lost the UEFA Futsal Cup on home territory in the semi-finals to ElPozo Murcia FS. Rudnev then led Dinamo to the 2008/09 finals at his old Ekaterinburg home, and although he was dismissed in January in favour of Sérgio Sapo, he was reappointed in March. Rudnev is a disciplined coach who always puts the team above the individual but points out that his sides have "never been accused of boring futsal".







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com