Tuesday 12 January 2021

ALL THE LATEST FOOTBALL AND TRANSFER NEWS FROM BELARUS

SLAVIA MOZYR RELEASE FOUR PLAYERS  

Slavia Mozyr have released four players as manager Mikhail Maritnovich prepares for the forthcoming 2021 season. Moldovan Midfielder Igor Kostrov leaves after being a first team regular for the last five seasons - He scored six goals in their 2018 Division One title winning side. Ukrainian defender Yuri Pantya was also a first team regular and leaves after two seasons with Slavia. Defender Egor Potapov , 27, played 19 times last season and leaves after a two season stay with the club. Another defender in Viktor Mudrak, 26, leaves after a very short stay at the Junactva Stadium. The Moldovan played only seven times last season. 

There is also a new name in their squad in Vietnamese midfielder Xuân Thắng Vũ - I don't know much information about him but it'll be interesting to see another nationality in the league for the forthcoming 2021 season. 

GOMEL LOOKING TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON THEIR RETURN TO THE PREMIER 

Gomel return to the Premier League after just one season in the second tier and will be looking to make an impact in the forthcoming Premier League season as manager Ivan Bionchik reshapes his squad that finished second in the First League last campaign.  

Midfielder Pavel Tseslyukevich, 25, who scored seven goals in fourteen appearances last season has resigned for the new season. He counts Neman Grodno, Granit and Baranovichi amongst his former clubs.  

Goalkeeper Andrey Shkarkov, 20, has signed for the season after spending the last two seasons with Bumprom Gomel where he made 43 apperances. 

Striker Nikita Nekrasov has also resigned after playing in 24 games last season and scoring six goals. The 20 year old has also played for Sputnik Rechitsa and Torpedo Minsk previously. 

Team Captain Ruslan Yudenko has also resigned - The experienced defender, 33, has played over 150 games for Gomel and has also represented Gorodeya, Slavia Mozyr and Vedrich Rechitsa in his career. 

The club have strengthened there defence with the signing of experienced defender Igor Kuzmenok who spent last season with Isloch. He returns the club he came through the academy ranks of and with whom he won the 2011 Belarusian Cup with coming on as a late substitute in the 2-0 final win versus Neman Grodno. He has also played for Dinamo Minsk, Shakhtar Soligorsk, Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino. 

It's also bee reported (although not yet confirmed) that the club are very interested in signing centre-forward Andrey Solovey from city rival's Lokomotiv Gomel. The former Torpedo BelAZ-Zhodino, Dynamo Brest and Slonim player was top scorer in the second tier last season with 21 goals in 24 games. 

Gomel have released Dmitry Kaplunov, Terenty Lutsevich, Egor Troyakov and Murat Khotov.

BYKOV LEAVES DYNAMO BREST 

Another experienced player has left Dynamo Brest. Midfielder Artem Bykov, 28, who has nine full international caps (albeit the last one in 2017) has been with Dynamo for the past three seasons and was part of their title winning squad in 2019. 

SIARHEI KISLYAK JOINS DYNAMO MINSK 

Midfielder Sirahei Kislyak as left Dynamo Brest to sign for his former club Dynamo Minsk whom he played for between 2004 to 2010. The 33 year old has 71 full caps for Belarus to his name although his last International appearance was back in November 2019 against Montenegro. He has also played in Russia for Ruban Kazan and Krasnodor.

BATE'S NEW COACHING STAFF SHAPING UP 

New BATE Head Coach Vitaly Zhukovsky has completed his back room staff with Pavel Plyut and Andrey Misyuk following him from Isloch. 

Alexander Volodko, 34, has retired from playing but will continue to work with the club in a coaching capacity. He only made four appearances last season but played over 200 times for BATE between 2008 to 2017. 

BATE have two friendly games scheduled against Neman Grodno (Wed 20th January) and Isloch (Sun 24th January) before they travel to Turkey for a training camp in Turkey for most of February. 

They have signed 21 year old defender Danila Nechaev who made 19 appearances for Belshina Bobruisk last season. He has represented Belarus at under 21 level and counts Lida and DEPR Mogilev as his former clubs. 

Another young defender has joining following his former boss from Isloch. Semyon Lazarchik, 20, was only a squad player for The Wolves last season but has not been confirmed as a BATE Borisov player. 

RUKH BREST SIGN KLOPOTSKY 

Defender Yevgeny Klopotsky has moved from Vitebsk to Rukh Brest. The 27 year old defender player appeared 23 times for his now former club last season. He has also played for Dynamo Brest (68 games from 2011 to 2015) and Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino (37 games from 2016 to 2017). In total he played 57 games for Vitebsk. 

ALEXANDROVICH AND KRIVULKIN LEAVE BELARUS 

Midfielder Alexander Alexandrovich, 23, who played 19 games for Smolevichi last season has moved to Russian third tier side FC Tver. He counts Vitebsk and Orsha as former clubs. His new club are currently in sixth place of Group 2 of the Russian Professional Football League and were reformed in April 2020 after dissolving at the end of the 16/17 campaign due to financial problems. The city of Tver is around 105 miles north-west of Moscow. 

Roman Kirvulkin who played 17 games for Slutsk and counts Krumkachy Minsk and Torpedo Minsk as former clubs has moved to FC Leningradets who play in the same division as FC Tver. He was born in Belarus but came through the academy ranks of Zenit St Petersburg and CSKA Moscow. FCL's home stadium is the Nova Arena in St Petersburg.

CHAMPION'S SHAKHYTOR SOLIGORSK MAKE SIGNINGS

Title winner's Shakhtyor are scheduled to be leave for a month long training camp in the United Arab Emirates from next Monday where they have friendly games arranged with Dynamo Kiev, Zenit St Petersburg, Liva (of the UAE Division Two), Krasnodar, Riga and Spartak Moscow. 

They have made a number of impressive signings so far as they look to strengthen their squad in preparation for the 2021/22 Champions League qualifying rounds. Could they be the first Belarusian side to make it to the group stages since the 2015/16 competition when BATE famously played in Group E against Barcelona, Roma and Bayer Leverkusen. 

Joining from BATE is highly experienced central defender Igor Filipenko. The 32 year old started his football career with BATE back in 2006 and has since played for Spartak Moscow, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Malaga as well as earning over 50 International caps for Belarus. He is a seven time winner of the title in Belarus during his various spells with BATE whom he made 24 appearances last season. 

Another experienced player making the move from BATE to Shakhtyor is Igor Stasevich who many people will tell you has been the best player in the Premier League for a number of years. At 35 years of age the midfielder is still a firm fixture in the Belarus International side where he has 61 caps. He started his career with BATE in 2004 and has also played for Gomel, Dynamo Minsk and had a very brief spell with Russian club Volga Nizhny Novgorod in 2010. He had played over 250 times for BATE and scored over 50 goals. 

Midfielder Pavel Zabelin who impressed for Neman Grodno last season has also moved to Shakhtyor. The 25 year old came through the ranks at Neman spending time on loan with Baranovichi in 2016 and Granit Mikashevichi in 2016 and 2017. He scored 7 goals in 27 appearances for Neman in the 2020 season. He has never been capped for Belarus but I'm sure this honour may be coming his way in 2021. 

Albanian International attacking midfielder Valon Ahmedi has joined from KF Shkëndija who play in the top division in North Macedonia. The 26 year old has also played in Italy, Slovenia, Israel and Croatia. 

Although unconfirmed as yet Shakhtyor are reported to be interested in signing Pavol Šafranko who is currently on the books of Romanian club Sepsi OSK. The Slovakian International spent the 18/19 season on loan with Dundee United from Danish side Aab. He scored 15 goals in 40 games for The Tangerines who were then in the Scottish Championship and was reportedly interesting some of the leading Scottish Premiership sides after his loan spell ended. 

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