33 most influential people in Russian football. Part 2

22. Vasily Utkin

Chief editor of NTV-Plus sports channels, Sports.ru blogger

Speaking about Russia, the influence of fans, media, and other representatives of «the football public» should not be overestimated. Most key decisions are made here without any consideration of their opinion whatsoever, as neither fans, nor TV can be called a significant source of the clubs’ profits. If, however, there are still any journalists, whose stand can have some repercussions and some influence upon the course of events, Vasily Utkin is number one among them. Moreover, since 2010 he is also an executive for the television company, which has been the main broadcaster of the Russian Premier League for the five seasons in a row.

21. Pryadkin brothers

Sergey – president of the Russian Premier League, Andrey – director of the FNL’s Department for Security and Supporters

The Russian Premier League’s governing body has not become an independent force in domestic football. Today, in fact, it is just one of the departments of the Russian FA, as most contracts (be it advertising or broadcasting) are initiated by the FA president Sergey Fursenko himself, and not by the RFPL president Sergey Pryadkin. However, one should not underestimate the Pryadkin brothers. Andrey, the younger one, obtained his agent’s license in 2006 and quickly earned a reputation as a man capable to solve any problems: employ any player, renegotiate a better contract, sort out a conflict, etc. Some sources in the Russian FA say that its entire legal department has been begging Andrey Pryadkin to surrender his license in order to avoid scandals associated with his brother’s official position. It seems like he eventually agreed to it – however, the state of affairs in the Russian agency market has not changed much after that.

20. German Tkachenko

President of ProSports Management

German Tkachenko’s company remains one of the largest in the agency market while he himself has been recently involved in a large number of resonant transfers. Tkachenko has rescued Alexander Aliev from the Lokomotiv «prison» (though both Dynamo Kiev and Lokomotiv presidents had repeatedly claimed this transfer would not come true), has arranged Fedor Smolov’s internship at Feyenoord, and, finally, has brought a bunch of star players, including Roberto Carlos, to Anzhi Makhachkala. Tkachenko may well be the only Russian agent with enough imagination to devise transfers so out of the common and enough authority to perform them.

19. Alexander Dyukov

President of Zenit St. Petersburg

Even though being the head of Gazprom Neft, the corporation’s oil division, and being in charge of the financial management at Zenit, Dyukov cannot be regarded as the most important person of the powerful St. Petersburg club. In Gazprom’s hierarchy, according to which Zenit has been living for the last few years, Dyukov is a subordinate of Alexey Miller (the latter appearing in our ranking much higher than the former). In addition to that, lately the rumors have been circulating about Dyukov’s promotion to the Russian government.

18. Valery Karpin

General director of Spartak Moscow

Valery Karpin came to Spartak in the middle of the crisis of Leonid Fedun’s rule, being given a carte blanche – both as a director and as a coach – which none of his predecessors could even dream of. Karpin proved to be a tough manager. Having fired two coaches in six months, he decided to manage the team himself and left behind all other top clubs except Rubin in his first season. He does not care too much about political correctness, never pulls his punches, admits his mistakes in public, and retorts any external criticism. Despite the recent resignation from the head coach position, Karpin’s traits have already made him one of the most promising figures in Russian football.

17. Oleg Artemov

FIFA agent

Huge cash injections into Russian football seemed to kill the slightest desire of going abroad in local players, but the 48-year-old agent was able to convince many of them to move from the cozy Russian championship to more challenging places. It was he who pushed Roman Pavlyuchenko to Tottenham three years ago and sent Pavel Pogrebnyak to VfB Stuttgart. This winter Artemov did cause a little sensation in the transfer market, having found a warm place in England for Sergey Kornilenko. Artemov’s client database contains the names of current national team players (Pavlyuchenko, Pogrebnyak, Yanbaev, Bukharov) and those knocking at its doors from time to time (Rebko, Tarasov, Samedov). This means that the performance of our national team depends on this agent as well.

16. Kurban Berdiyev

Head coach of Rubin Kazan

Kurban Berdyev seems to be the last of the big coaches in Russian Premier League not falling within the definition of an «employee». With the money provided him by the government of Tatarstan to Kazan’s 1000th anniversary he has built the country’s first provincial club able to catch up with the Moscow-based teams and Zenit (and as we all found out later – even with Barcelona sometimes). Today Berdiyev controls all the processes in the club with the same care as he used to watch videotapes with players from Africa and South America all nights long. Despite his authoritarian personality and conservatism Berdiyev does not seem to fossilize: at the beginning of the season he announced that his team and club would undergo considerable changes.

15. Dick Advocaat

Head coach of the national team

The Dutchman has already done himself justice winning the Russian championship and the UEFA Cup with Arshavin and Tymoshchuk and then adding the European Super Cup to them with the help of Danny. Zenit-related achievements of the Little General had produced such a powerful hypnosis in Zenit-related chiefs of Russian football, that today at the helm of the national team we have a reserved and conservative man who hates making substitutions, cannot tolerate criticism, is ready to boycott the media and eager to terminate his current contract for a bigger one. However, it seems that no country would offer Advocaat more than Russia did, which means the national team’s presence or absence at Euro 2012 and its performance in Poland and Ukraine will depend solely on the Dutchman. As Sergey Fursenko is Advocaat’s personal advocate, there is no point waiting for him to resign before the end of the qualification stage.

14. Sergey Galitsky

Owner of FC Krasnodar

Galitsky is the director and the major owner of one of the largest retail chains in Russia, whose assets are estimated to be about $6.5 billion, as well as a staunch opponent of the state funding of football clubs, a passionate supporter, and the new favourite of the sports media. His FC Krasnodar has set a record that will not be broken by any other club: it has emerged in the Premier League three years after being established. While most people talk a lot about systematic development of football clubs (training camp, academy, stadium), Galitsky is already practicing what he preaches.

13. Karine Gyulazizova

Member of the Russian FA Committee for Security and Supporters

Despite having no high-flown position and minimal publicity, the advisor, medium, and some kind of a political instructor of Sergey Fursenko is quite an influential figure. Karine Gyulazizova has been working with the current head of the Russian football back when he was at Zenit. It was she who created the concept of the Code of Honor of Russian football4; every significant project in Russian football must involve her as «the expert on humanitarian technologies and social coherence» (!) and no initiative can be approved without passing her ideological check.

12. Konstantin Sarsania

Head coach of Fakel Voronezh

This versatile professional has outgrown the framework of the agency business – and it was not just about his coaching ambitions. Today Sarsania is some kind of an executive producer of Russian football. This year he returned Dick Advocaat from Belgium, arranged a contract with Kevin Kuranyi for Dynamo Moscow, and brought the national team to Voronezh. Having left Dynamo, Sarsania has become advisor to Sergey Fursenko, with whom he had begun to build a European top club in St. Petersburg, and now may well be more influential than ever before.

by Kirill Blagov, Yuri Dud, Dmitry Navosha, Denis Romantsov, Ivan Kalashnikov, Mikhail Kalashnikov, and Alexey Belov

You can read the first part of the ranking here.