The second round of Russia’s Football Championship is beginning. On the eve of the round football coaches and bureaucrats discuss the readiness of the teams and the stadiums.
Alexander Tarkhanov, Honored Coach of Russia thinks that the second round of the Championship will be interesting:”first 8 teams go with equal score, maybe just Zenit and Kuban' have a certain lead, but in general the competition will go on”.
“I gave an interview, and the reporter asked me about the second eight, will they play or not. I answered that football players should play better, so that the TV will show them and people will attend matches. They must play. The second moment: there are four teams competing for survival, and there is quite a big group. Six teams, only the Rostov team takes the lead, and the Krasnodar team has made for itself a quiet life in this contest. But nonetheless, Krasnodar must play with all its strength, because they must prepare for the next championship. But I think then there will be a struggle in their eight. You mentioned the question of referees. We right now talked with Sergei Vladimirovich about refereeing. First of all, we need development, though I think our referees are qualified enough and not worse than foreign ones. But sometimes something influences them and they make mistakes. And I think we need to introduce a system in the referee's pool as well as in preparing the players and coaches. This system must bring positive results on the football pitch, because everything at the end is reflected on the football pitch”.
Sergei Cheban, Executive Director of the Russian Football Premier League:
We are impatiently waiting for the beginning of the season, maybe as actively as we're waiting for the elections of the President of Russian Federation. And I completely support Alexandr Fedorovich in that it will be a completely unique continuation of the sport season.You know that two tours of the second lap have been already played, and we start from the 33rd tour. And nonetheless, the intrigue is still there, which is evident in the closing of the transfer campaign, which ended on Friday midnight. About 100 people have been announced, and this is wonderful. This is so interesting, and we feel understanding, and obviously, all the teams are in a very serious mood. You know that in the last few days a decision of the Chamber was adopted, the bans were lifted, and practically all the teams that had to be completed have been completed. Now we're actively checking the readiness of the stadiums. You know that there are a number of measures, and we're trying to enter the meeting of the bureau of the Executive Committee in a more organized way, and, most importantly, to do so that the main football factor - the grass and the stadium - allow showing the skill of the players and the ideas of the coaches, without influencing the results. At the moment we have checked practically all the fields and grasses which will be used in the first tour. Yesterday I, Sergei and Alexei were at the ceremony of delivering gold medals to our guys, the boys of Lokomotiv who took first Prize. They participated in the championship last year, which has ended. And we saw the green grass that is growing, soon there will be a complex of
agrotechnical measures, and it will be absolutely wonderful. The situation in Khimki is slightly sadder. The trip to Krasnodar made us happy. The pitch is in a good condition there. Much has been done in St Petersburg, and the picture will be fine there, which will allow our players to show the results. You know that a number of great players entered our championship. I think there will be a colorful picture, a mosaic: our players, foreign players, and all this will bring us joy. I absolutely agree with Alexandr Fedorovich. Much has been done so that our refereeing pool will occupy the place that it has the full right to occupy. This is a reorganization conducted by the Russian Football Union. A meeting of referees also took place recently, they are also completely ready.
Sergei Alexeev, the Director of Public Connections of the Russian Football Premier League:
This year promises to be no less interesting than the previous one. As you know, when we celebrated 10 years of the Russian Premier League there was the 20th championship. This year the championship began with celebrating 100 years of the Russian Football Union. But this year we also have those who celebrate: the Moscow team "Spartak" celebrates its 90th jubilee, "The Wing of Soviets" (Krylia Sovetov) celebrates its 70th jubilee, and "Tamir" turns 55. Definitely, in the FC's, in the cities and at the level of the Russian Premier League, we will honor the veterans of these clubs. Definitely we will organized events with young players, with children, in these cities. Also this year the contest "Miss Premier League" will be continued, and, we hope, will become a tradition. Last year, as you know, we summed up and chose the first official Miss Premier League. This year since the nearest rounds the new voting will begin, which will additionally be announced. In fact, the championship promises to be very interesting. There will be many other interesting events. I hope they will allow us to evaluate properly the beauty of our football.
