Vadim Yevseev: farewell game

On May, 14 Yevseev will lead two teams to the Moscow FC Lokomotiv stadium: the team of his friends and the so-called ‘Team of the world’. It bears this name as there will be representatives of various nations there. “I think it’s time that I finish my football career. I’m glad that Lokomotiv’s directors agreed to help me and Olga Smorovskaya allowed us to hold this game on Lokomotiv’s stadium. Valery Filatov and Igor Semin will coach the ‘Yevseev’s friends’ team while Georgy Yartsev and Oleg Romantsev will coach the ‘world team’ ,” Vadim himself said.

The chief referee of the game will be Roberto Rozetti.

According to the press attaché of the national Russian football team, Ilya Kazakov, “For us the name of Vadim is first of all associated with the famous game with the national team of Wales, with these two games, actually. But personally, for me Vadim is the symbol of the rise of Moscow FC Lokomotiv, a team that became the leader of Russian football, when another FC, Spartak, temporarily moved to the second rank. I don’t know if it is symbolic or not, but Lokomotiv lost its leading position after Vadim left and is regaining it only now, thanks to Alexei Smerchin and others who also play there. The fans of the club remember and respect Vadim for his devotion to the club, for his sporting, truly patriotic character, for his selflessness. That is probably why he was always so popular. I’m looking at a long text now presenting his career, from the very beginning. As an illustration to his character I would like to cite you one episode: he left Moscow FC Dynamo in 1990 when they refused to include him in the team that was sent to the championship to France and joined Lokomotiv willing to prove that he’s the best. And he did.

“If we talk about his career at Spartak FC - and you see that not only Alexei Smerchin, but two other members of this team, Andrei Tikhonov and Nikolay Pisarev, are sitting here with me – Vadim started there in 1996, it was the famous quarter-final with the French team Nantes, which I think Russian football fans will never forget. Vadim had 27 games that year with Spartak and won his first Champion of Russia award. He has 6 similar trophies, and 4 of them were won during his career at Spartak. During his career in Lokomotiv he won 2 Cups, 2 Championships, 2 Super-Cups and of course there were victories with the national team. He made his debut there in 1999, when our team beat Andorra with ease, 6:1. Then there were the famous games with Wales in 2004 in the European Cup. As Vadim said after that game, a lot of football fans think it was the realization of the ‘Russian football ideal’ of that time.

“Vadim’s participation in the Champion’s League was also unforgettable. We all remember how the Lokomotiv of that epoch played with France's Monaco FC … And we remember how Yuri Semin’s team played with Real, Inter, Dynamo Kiev… Vadim played some 250 games with Lokomotiv, and he scored 25 goals, and this is a big figure for a fullback.

“In 2007 Vadim left Lokomotiv, as he, as well as yet another famous veteran of this team, Dmitry Loskov, couldn’t get along with the new coach, the renowned Anatoly Byshovtsev. After that he played for the legendary Moscow Torpedo FC, then for Saturn FC, then last April he was invited abroad (even though not far) by Sergei Gurenko to play for Belarus's Torpedo FC. And on November 21 he declared that he is ending his football career, he said that everything should be done in the right moment, and it was the right moment for him.

“The organizers of the game promise a lot of interesting surprises outside of the football festival. Football-loving artists will be present. Show-ballet ‘Todes’ promised to perform between the times, and famous pop singer Irakly promised to perform a new song. Traditionally football players are given a send-off with the famous ‘Vivat, king, vivat’ song, but we’ll see what Irakly has prepared for us.

“It is also important that during this match the children of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team members who died in the plane crash last year will be given a sanatorium voucher to the ‘Orlenok’ camp. The vouchers are granted by the ‘Drevo Zhizni’ (‘Tree of life’) foundation which helps restore our national cultural heritage. This foundation also takes an active part in the farewell match of Vadim Yevseev”.