THE BIG BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 2021 SEASON PREVIEW

THE 2021 BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON IS DUE TO START IN MARCH. THERE HAS ALREADY BEEN A HUGE AMOUNT OF TRANSFER ACTIVITY SINCE THE TURN OF THE YEAR AS CLUBS RETURN TO TRAINING AND PREPARE FOR THE UPCOMING CAMPAIGN. 

BELOW ARE DETAILS OF SOME OF THE INS, OUTS AND LATEST NEWS FOR THE LEAGUE. I'LL ADD TO IT WHEN MORE PLAYERS MOVE AND JOIN DIFFERENT CLUBS. 

THE GAME IN BELARUS IS LIKELY TO BE IN FOR A SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT SEASON DUE TO THE CURRENT TURBULENT AND UNPREDICTABLE POLITICAL SITUATION AND THE EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC ON THE FOOTBALL CLUBS WHO ARE MAINLY STATE OWNED. 

THERE HAVE BEEN REPORTS OF THE STATE BANNING CLUBS GOING ABROAD TO TRAINING CAMPS UNLESS PRIVATE MONEY IS USED - SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK ARE CURRENTLY IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES REPORTEDLY USING THE MONEY RAISED FROM THE SALE OF VITALY LISAKOVICH TO LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW AND FUNDS FROM QUALIFYING FOR THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. 

THERE HAVE ALREADY BEEN A NUMBER OF PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY GAMES PLAYED - THE RESULTS OF WHICH I WILL ADD TO ANOTHER ARTICLE SOON. 

BATE BORISOV 

Going by the extremely high standards they have set BATE Borisov have had two very poor seasons in 2019 and 2020 despite finishing as runner's up twice and winning the cup in 2020. Since Alexander Yermakovich left the head coach position in December 2017 after a four year spell in charge BATE are now on their fifth coach since that date. 

Oleg Dulub was in charge from January 2018 to June 2018 followed by Alyaksey Baha (June 2018 to December 2019), Kirill Alshevsky (January 2020 - September 2020) and Alexander Lisovskiy (September 2020 to December 2020)and now newly appointed Vitaly Zhukovsky. 

Dulub has recently been appointed coach at First League side Krumkachy Minsk where he was boss in in 2015 and 2016. Baha was appointed head coach of Lithuanian club Zalgris with Alshevsky recently appointed boss of Rukh Brest. 

Zhukovsky comes into the club after a successful ten year spell with Isloch where he was adored by the fans and took them from the amateur leagues to an established Premier League side and also a Semi-Final appearance in the 2019/20 Belarusian Cup. 

Zhukovsky inherits a somewhat ageing squad at BATE. This is indicated in the average age of the starting XI in their 0-0 draw in the final game of the 2020 season at FC Minsk which was 29.18.  

He has started the rebuilding process by shipping out Stasevich (35) and Filipenko (32) to 2020 title rival's Shakhtyor Soligorsk along with Baga (31) who has moved to FK Liepāja in Latvia who are currently managed by former BATE player and Smolevichi boss Dmitry Molosh.

It's near enough unheard of for BATE to finish below the top two of the division - Since promotion in 1997 this has only happened twice in 2001 (3rd) and 2005 when they finished in 5th place. With the rebuilding of the squad being more of a long term project and BATE apparently not being as cash rich as they were when competing in the UEFA Champions Leaue ground stages there is a possibility this could happen in the 2021 season. 

The question for me is will Zhukovsky, who showed his quality in moulding and building a good squad at Isloch, be given enough time to work his magic at the the Borisov Arena?  A high turn over of coaches in the past three seasons hasn't worked so the supporters and those in charge of the running the club must, I think, put their trust in Zhukovsky. However if BATE are in 6th or 7th place come July or August that could be another story. 

TRANSFERS IN

Vladislav Mukhamedov - Energetik-BGU. Just turned 24 years of age he spent the 2019 and first bit of the 2020 season with Smolevichy before switching to the students mid-season as a replacement for the departing Yaxshiboev who had joined Shakhtyor Soligorsk.  He returns to the club he spent four seasons with from 2016 to 2019 where he made only 10 appearances. Last season he netted 3 goals in 18 appearances. 

Aleksey Nosko - Energetik-BGU. The midfielder, 24, was one of the stand out players not only for The Students last year but in the league. Came through the ranks at Neman Grodno before moving to Energetik and a short spell with Dynamo Brest in 2019. I think he'll have a very impressive season for BATE. 

Shahboz Umarov - Energetik-BGU. Scored a fantastic goal for The Students in their 0-1 win at BATE in July which must of impressed the scouts and back room staff as he signed a contract to play for his new club from 2021 only a few weeks later. The 21 year old from Uzbekistan will be looking to impress and improve with BATE. 

Sergey Volkov - Vitebsk. 21 year old defender joins from Vitesbsk where he has been a first team regular player over the past two seasons. Capped for Belarus at u21 level. 

Danila Nechaev - Belshina Bobruisk. Young defender, 21, moves after breaking through to Belshina's first team last season. Also played for first league side Lida in 2019. 

TRANSFERS OUT 

Igor Stasevich - Shakhtyor Soligorsk 

Egor Filipenko - Shakhtyor Soligorsk 

Dmitri Baga - FK Liepaja (Latvia)  

Evream Mukem - ?? 

DYNAMO BREST

Where to start for the 2019 champions and one of the best supported clubs in Belarus who have been members of the Premier League since it was formed in 1992. They missed out on a Europa League place by just two points last season. Its going to be a fully new look squad for the 2021 season as the ownership of the club has reportedly been transferred from private ownership and returned back to the jurisdiction of public association with the playing budget likely to be reduced dramatically. 

Some of the story lies with the formation of Rukh Brest in 2016 to act as a 'farm club' for Dynamo. After joining the Second League in 2018 they were promoted twice in as many years to achieve a place in the top tier for the 2020 season - this was when officially the partnership with Dynamo Brest was ended as farm clubs are not allowed to play at the same level of the pyramid in Belarus. 

Many of Dynamo's squad have now joined Rukh over the pre-season and it's a case of a complete rebuild of the club's first team squad.

Dynamo Brest 1960 Malorita who played in the Second League in the 2020 season acted as Dynamo Brest's farm club for last season. 

TRANSFERS IN

???????

TRANSFERS OUT

Pavel Pavlyuchenko - Rukh Brest.

Denis Laptev - Rukh Brest. 

Egor Bogomolskiy - Rukh Brest.

David Tweh - Rukh Brest. 

Oleg Nikiforenko - Rukh Brest.

Pavel Savitskiy - Rukh Brest. 

Elis Bakaj - Rukh Brest

Artem Milevskyi  - Minai (Ukraine). 

Artem Bykov - Dynamo Minsk.

Aleksey Antilevskiy - Torpedo BelAZ. 

Sergey Kislyak - Dynamo Minsk. 

DYNAMO MINSK 

It's nearly two decades since Dynamo Minsk won their last title in Belarus. The table that season in 2004 had a somewhat familiar look to it with BATE Borisov, Shakhtyor Soligorsk and Torpedo Belaz-Zhodino joining Dynamo in the top four. Since then they have finished runner's up seven times and last season finished in sixth. 

The experience of Minsk born Leonid Kuchuk in the head coach position will help Dynamo no end - He started his managerial career in 1998 with Dynamo-93 Minsk. Kuchuk's best spell in management was his stay at FC Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova from 2004 to 2010 when he won the league title six times. He also took Lokomotiv Moscow to a third place finish in the Russian Premier League of 2013/14. 

I think the historic club and seven time winners of the Belarusian Premier League may well be one of the teams to beat for the 2021 season.  

In addition to the transfers in they have a number of younger players returning after spending the 2020 campaign on loan 

TRANSFERS IN

Artem Bykov - Dynamo Brest. Experienced midfielder returns to Dynamo after a three season stay at Dynamo Brest. The 28 year old has played 181 times in the Premier League and has 9 full caps for the national side. 
Jean Morel Poe - Neman Grodno.-The Ivory Coast winger spent last season with Smolevichy and Neman Grodno where he made a good impression with many people. One thing the 24 year old can improve on is his goal-scoring record - He only has 4 goals in 63 games since he moved to Belarus in 2018 and spent two seasons with Torpedo Belaz-Zhodino. 

Egor Khatevich - Isloch. Goalkeeper joins after a three season spell with The Wolves where he was first choice between the sticks. 

Nikita Naumov - Zetysu (Kazakhstan). 31 year old defender joins after spening time in Kazakhstan. A really impressive signing for Dynamo who brings lots of experience with him.

TRANSFERS OUT

Alexander Ksenofontov - Vitebsk. 

ENERGETIK-BGU

The loss of two of their key players in Umarov and Nosko to BATE Borisov will be difficult to replace. The club's whole ethos since formation has been bringing in impressive, up and coming players improving them and then moving them on to bigger and better things.  I'm sure this will be the case for the 2021 season. Since promotion back to the top tier for the 2019 season they have finished in 12th and 10th.  

TRANSFERS IN 

Andrey Sinenko - Lida. 23 year old goalkeeper returns to the club he left in 2019. He spent the 2019 campaign with Smorgon (7 games) and then the 2020 season with Lida where he played 12 games. He played 11 games for The Students in his previous spell with the club  

Danill Miroshnikov - Rukh Brest. 20 year old defender who spent the 2019 and 2020 season on loan with Energetik from Dynamo Brest. He played 23 games for The Students last season. He transferred from Dynamo to Rukh on the 31st December and then very quickly moved to Energetik on 12th January 

TRANSFERS OUT 

Shahboz Umarov - BATE Borisov. 

Aleksey Nosko - BATE Borisov. 

Vladislav Mukhamedov - BATE Borisov. 

Khumoyunmirzo Iminov - Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan). 

FC GOMEL 

The 2003 Premier League champions have been the yo-yo team of Belarusian Football over the past few seasons. In 2015 they were relegated and in 2016 they were promoted straight back as First League Champions. In 2019 they were relegated again but bounced back again at the first time of asking (even with a five point deduction) by finishing in second place. 

The club are managed by Ivan Bionchik who has been with them since December 2019. He is a young ambitious manager aged only 35 and has already been in charge at Dynapro Mogilev for the 2019 season as well as a four year spell in charge of Luch Minsk.  He spent his entire career with SKCVICH Minsk/Lokomotiv Minsk aside from loan spells with Molodechno and Slonim. 

I think Gomel will be much stronger than Belshina Bobruisk and Smolevichy who came up for the 2019 season and went back down again. I predict they will finish in a mid-table position. They were the best supported side in the second tier last season. 

TRANSFERS IN 

Pavel Tseslyukevich - Neman Grodno. 25 year old midfielder joins permanently after spending last season on loan with Gomel. 

Igor Kuzmenok - Isloch. Hugely experienced defender who joins after playing in 14 games for Isloch last season. He re-joins the club he spent three seasons with from 2010 to 2012. 

Andrey Solovey - Lokomotiv Gomel. Joins from their City rivals. The 26 year old was the first league's top scorer in the 2020 season. Came through the ranks at Dynamo Brest - He played 20 games in the Premier League in the 2015 season. His scoring form in 2019 and 2020 saw him get 34 goals in 47 league games for Lokomotiv. Can he recreate that form in the Premier League? If he can he will be a very astute signing for Gomel. 

Denis Levitskiy - Belshina Bobruisk. Midfielder joins after a one season stay with Belshina. He counts Torpedo-Belaz Zhodino and DNEPR Mogilev as former clubs. 

Aleksey Ivanov - FC Minsk. 23 year old defender joins after being a bit part player for FC Minsk last season where he only started 5 league games. 

TRANSFERS OUT

????

FC MINSK 

Minsk will start the season under new management with the recent appointment of Russian Fyodor Shcherbachenko. Last season they had two managers in place - Vadim Skripchenko from August to December and before his appointment Andrey Razin had been in charge from January 2019. 

The appointment of Shcherbachenko is a strange one as the experienced Skripchenko had improved Minsk's fortunes in his short spell in charge. Shcherbachenko hasn't had a coaching job since 2015 when he was in charge for a short four month spell Kaysar in Kazakhstan. 

Skripchenko took over in mid August and his league record in charge was 6 wins in 12 games (a win percetange of 50.00%) compated to 5 wins 18 games prior to his arrival (27.78%).

This was with the same squad that Razin had at the start of the season aside from defender Petr Ten (signed from Armavir in Russia), Kamil Zakirov (on loan from Rubin Kazan) and Artem Vasiljev leaving for Gorodeya. 

FC Minsk have always been known to produce quality young players - I think it could be a mid-table finish for themfor 2022 - Who knows how Shcherbachenko will fair in his new job?  It could be an up and down unpredictable season coming up for them. 

TRANSFERS IN

Dmitri Tikhomirov - Orsha. The 21 year old attacker returns to the club where he started his career in 2019 where he made 2 appearances. He played for Naftan Novopolotsk and Volna before his spell with Orsha where he netted 5 times in 11 games for the first league side last time. 

TRANSFERS OUT

Aleksey Ivanov - FC Gomel 

Andrey Shemruk - Vitesbsk

GORODEYA 

It has been reported that the village team have unfortunately been "liquidated" due to the main sponsor of the club withdrawing all funds and huge financials problems with the club. At present I don't know if they will or will not play in the top tier next season or if they don't which team may or may not replace them. It is thought Gorodeya may reappear in the Second League for the 2021 season. 

ISLOCH 

It's the dawn of a new era for The Wolves as they said goodbye to Vitaly Zhukovsky who had been head coach for 10 years taking them from the Amateur leagues to the Premier League. 35 year old Artem Radkov is the new man in the hot-seat having moved in the opposite direction from BATE where he had been assistant coach. Radkov has also been a youth team coach at Energetik from 2017 to 2020 as well as Belarus u21s in 2019 and 2020. This is his first position as a head coach and he is likely to focus on younger up and coming players for Isloch's squad. 

TRANSFERS IN

???????

TRANSFERS OUT

Egor Khatevich - Dynamo Minsk. 

Igor Kuzmenok - Gomel. 

Semen Lazarchik - BATE Borisov. 

Aleksey Yanushkevich - Vitebsk. 

NEMAN GRODNO 

A disappointing and frustrating end to the season for Neman last year as they just run out of steam to finish in the top three places to qualify for the Europa Cup with three defeats in their last five games. The home defeats to lowly Slavia Mozyr and Gorodeya really ended the hopes of a team who were at one stage in contention of winning the title. 

The good news is that Igor Kovalevich will stay in charge which will bring stability to the club - He has been in charge since 2016. 

In addition the transfers in Kovalevich also has a number of younger players returning after loan spells with other clubs in Belarus. 

With Poe, Marusic, Kadimyan and Zabelin all departing Neman's midfield is likely to have a completely new look for 2021. 

The departure of Armenian midfield maestro Gegam Kadimyan, whose contract ran out in December with the club, is a real blow for them. He was one of the stand out player in the Premier League last season. 

TRANSFERS IN

Yuri Kozlov - Slutsk. 29 year old midfielder moves from Slutsk where he played 21 times last season. He has also played for Luch Minsk and Dynapro. 

Nikita Stepanov - Torpedo Belaz-Zhodino. 24 year old midfielder joins after being a squad player for Torpedo last season where he only played 10 times with 8 starts and 2 substitute appearances. 

TRANSFERS OUT 

Jean Morel Poe - Dynamo Minsk.

Zoran Marusic - Dyanmo Tbilisi (Georgia). 

Pavel Zabelin - Shakhtoyr Soligorsk. 

Gegam Kadimyan - ?????

RUKH BREST

There have been many rumours reported about Rukh Brest this summer with the main one being that they may move to the nearby town of Pruzhany which is around 55 miles North-East of Brest. The club have had close links to Dynamo Brest (as stated above) who have, as stated above, gone from being mainly privately funded to being owned by the local city authority. Many of the players that were with Dynamo have moved to Rukh with even the team coach that Dynamo travelled to games in apparently being transferred to Rukh and re-decked out in the Rukh's colours. Manager Alexander Sednev departed at the end of the season after only a one season stay with the club with former BATE boss Kirill Alshevsky, 38, taking over. 

In addition to the transfers in striker Adboulaye Diallo has also returned from his loan spell with Dynamo Brest where he played in their UEFA Champions League games.  

TRANSFERS IN

Ellis Bakaj - Dynamo Brest. 33 year old Albanian midfielder was used sparingly by Dynamo last season. He was a first team regular with Shakhytor in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. 

Pavel Savitskiy - Dynamo Brest. The 26 year old midfielder and Belarusian International has been one of the most impressive players in the league in recent seasons with his wonderful left foot. He has 19 international caps to his name so far and has also played for Neman Grodno. 

Artem Miroevsky - Arsenal Dzerzhinsk. The 21 year old attacker joins from the First League side where he was a first team regular last season. With all the players coming in to Rukh he may find it hard to find a regular place in the team. 

Danill Miroshnikov - Dynamo Brest. Spent last season on loan at Energetik-BGU and it was a very quick stay with Rukh as you can see below as he left for The Students after only a two weeks stay at the club. 

Karl Hampus Söderström - Frej (Sweden). 20 year old midfielder joins from Swedish third tier side KF Frej. He is reported to be a free kick specialist and as a midfielder is fond of a gaol too - He will no doubt be competing with Savitiskiy at who will take the set-pieces for the new look side. He attracted interest from Championship side Brentford last season so is clearly a player with lots of promise. Surely if he came to a English club he would gain the nickname "SodaStream". 

Oleg Nikiforenko - Dynamo Brest. Joins after spending part of last season on loan from Dynamo. 

David Tweh - Dynamo Brest. Liberian attacking midfielder/winger who plays in the style of Raheem Sterling. He joined Dynamo midway through the 2020 season from Engergetik. The 22 year old is another player who needs to add goal-scoring to his game. In the league last season he scored 4 goals in 27 games. 

Egor Bogomolskiy - Dynamo Brest. 20 year old centre-forward who spent some of last season on loan with Rukh who now joins on a full time basis. 

Denis Laptev - Dynamo Brest. 6ft 4inch centre forward joins after a two season stay at Dynamo. He has also played for Shakhtyor and Slavia Mozyr previously. The 29 year old is a full Belarusian International. 

Pavel Pavlychenko - Dynamo Brest. 23 year old goalkeeper who was with Dynamo for four seasons. He only played 13 league games for them last season and made a number of errors that didn't enamour him with the Dynamo faithful. 

Evgeni Klopostsky - Vitebsk. 27 year old defender joins after making 23 league apperances for Vitebsk last season. Counted Torepedo-Belaz Zhodino and Dynamo Brest amongst his former clubs. 

TRANSFERS OUT 

Danill Miroshnikov - Engergetik-BGU. 

Oleksi Kovtun - 

Roman Stepanov - 

Vitaly Gaiduchik - 

Alexander Migunov - 

Sergei Tikhonosky - 

SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK 

The 2020 champions will be one of the strongest teams in the division after the signings they have made in preparation for the 2021 campaign and their UEFA Champions League campaign where they will enter at the first qualifying round stage. 

Manager Roman Grigorchuk only took over in August but won the title for his new club in the first few months. He was previously with Astana where he won the Kazakhstani title in 2018 and 2019. During his time with Astana he got to the third qualifying round of the Champions League in 18/19 and first qualifying round in 19/20 as well as the UEFA Europa League group stages in both years. In the 19/20 Europa League his Astana side beat BATE in the Europa League play-off. 

It's an extremely tough ask for Shakhtyor to get into the group stages of the Champions League so we'll see what happens. It would be great to see! 

TRANSFERS IN

Sergey Chernik - Gorodeya. Goalkeeper aged 32 signed from Gorodeya where he made six appearances in the final part of the 2020 season. His started his career at his home town club Neman Grodno before moving to BATE in 2014. He then moved on to France with Nancy from 2016 to 2019 before moving back to BATE to make seven appearances. He started the 2020 season with Kazakhstani Premier League side FC Irtysh Pavlodar. Has 19 International caps for Belarus and is the current record holder for number of consecutive minutes (1,073) played in the Premier League without conceding a goal which he set playing for BATE in 2015. 

Egor Filipenko - BATE Borisov. Highly experienced defender aged 32 who joins from rival's BATE Borisov. He has 52 International caps for Belarus and began his career with BATE back in 2004. He also counts Spartak Moscow, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Malaga as former clubs. He is a seven time title winner in Belarus during his various spells with BATE whom he made 24 appearances for last season. 

Igor Stasevich - BATE Borisov. Many Belarusian fans will tell you Igor has been the best player in the league for a number of years. At 35 years of age the midfielder still is a firm fixtures in the Belarus International side where he currently had 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 has played over 250 times for BATE and scored over 50 goals. His move to Shakhtyor is likely to be the final one in his illustrious career where he has won the Premier League title nine times with BATE - Could he make it 10 in the 2021 season? 

Valon Ahmedi - KF Shkëndija (North Macedonia). Attacking Midfielder aged 26 who has also played in Italy, Slovenia, Israel and Croatia. He played in the UEFA Champions League group stages in 2017/18 whilst with NK Maribor and featured in the both of their games against Liverpool. Its been reported that Shakhtyor paid a fee of 100,000 euros for his services.  

Pavel Zabelin - Neman Grodno. Midfielder who impressed for Neman Grodno last season. 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 in the 2020 season. He has never been capped for Belarus but I'm sure this honour may be coming his way in 2021. 

Eze Vincent Okeuhie - Čukarički (Serbia). Nigerian midfielder, 27, who joins after a two season spell in the Serbian Super Liga. He has also played for Vojvodina in Serbia and played in Turkey and Cyprus. It's been reported a fee of 300,000 euros has been paid to secure his signature. 

Shakhzodbek Ubaydullaev - PFK Metallurg Bekabad (Uzbekistan). An Uzbekistan International aged 22 who moves overseas for the first time in his career. Scored 8 goals in 26 games in the Uzebekistan Super League last season.  It's reported a fee of 150,000 euros has been paid for the transfer. 

Roman Debelko - Riga (Latvia). Ukrainian forward, 27, who helped Riga to the Virslīga title in 2020 with 4 goals in 16 games. Has also played in Estonia as well as Ukraine. He is 6ft 1inch so has lots of height to use against the defences he comes up against in the 2021 season.

Gleb Shevchenko -  Slavia Mozyr. Midfielder who player 24 league games for Slavia last season and became a cult hero amongst fans in the United Kingdom because of his dreadlocked hair which he trimmed half way through the season. Aged 21 he has represented Belarus at u21, u19 and u18 level. May struggle to find a regular spot in the first team with all the players who have come into Shakhtyor. 

TRANSFERS OUT

Alexander Bulychev - Vitebsk. 

Igor Burko - Torpedo-Belaz Zhodino. 

Maksim Bordachev - Torpedo-Belaz Zhodino. 

Tin Vukamic - Spartaks Jurmala. 

Jasurbek Yakshibeov - Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan). 

Artem Arkhipov - Tambov. 

Alexander Selyava - Dynamo Minsk. 

SLAVIA MOZYR

A relatively quite pre-season so far at the Junactva Stadium where manager Mikhail Martinovich starts his third season in charge of the 1996 and 2000 league and cup double winners. 

Two players I am looking forward to seeing in action at Xuân Thắng Vũ who is a 20 year old midfielder from Vietnam - there isn't much information available as to which club he joined Slavia from and when. Also Argentinian midfielder Guido Ratto, 21, who made one league apperance last season will be good to keep an eye on. 

TRANSFERS IN

Dmitri Ignatenko - Gorodeya. 25 year old defender who played a big part in Gorodeya's defence last season. Has also played for Gomel and Belshina during his career so far. 

TRANSFERS OUT

Gleb Shevchenko- Shakhytor Soligorsk. 

Victor Mudrac - FC Saburtalo Tbilisi (Georgia) 

Igor Kostrov - ??

Yuri Pantya - ??

Egor Potapov -?? 

SLUTSK 

Slutsk escaped relegation by winning the promotion/relegation play-off against Krumkachy at the end of the season. It will be former Smolevichi boss Alexander Brezevich first season in full charge at the City Stadium. Another team who suffered from financial problems during the 2020 season when the city's sugar refinery who were the clubs main sponsors withdrew their backing. Another side who have been relatively quite on the transfer front so far this pre-season. There is likely to be many young players in the Slutsk squad for the 2021 season. 

38 year old Boris Pankratov who was a real fan favourite with not just the Slutsk support has left the club after playing 20 league games last season. The goalkeeper who won the title with BATE in 2006 and 2007 has been with Slutsk since 2017. He has also played for Belshina, Neman Grodno, DNEPR Mogilev, Granit, Dynamow Minsk and Spartak Shklov. 

Their worldwide fan base will be giving the team their full support like last season -WE LOVE OUR SLUTSK! 

TRANSFERS IN

??

TRANSFERS OUT

Yuri Kozlov - Neman Grodno. 

Roman Kirvulkin - Leningradets (Russia) 

Abdoul Gafar - ??? 

Souleymane Koanda - ?? 

Boris Pankratov - ??

SPUTNIK RECHITSA 

It's not known yet if the first league champions of 2020 will play in the Premier League after their sponsor withdrew funding for the 2021 season. The club are seeking other means of funding but as yet have not announced any signings. I'm sure all will be revealed in the next few months. Vyachelav Levchuk is still the head coach at present. 

TRANSFERS IN

None announced at present

TRANSFERS OUT

Dmitri Ignatenko - Smorgon 

Denis Gruzhevskiy - Torpedo-Belaz Zhodino

Valery Potoroch - Tom Tomsk 

TORPEDO-BELAZ ZHODINO 

Torpedo's third placed finish last season was their best ever in the Premier League and they will play in the Europa Conference League for the 21/22 season. The experienced Yuri Puntus has been in charge since September 2019 and is most well known for his time with BATE Borisov between the club reforming in 1996 to 2004 and with the Belarus National team in 2006 and 2007. He also won the Cup in 2005 with MTZ-Ripo Minsk and took Smolevichi from the Second League to the Premier League between 2011 to 2013. 

Torepdo will be without their Brazilian attacking-midfielder Gabriel Ramos who was one of the stand out players in the league last season. Reports suggest he has moved to Latvian Champion's Riga who will play in the UEFA Champions League qualifying round of 21/22. He joins fellow Brazilian's Felipe Brisola, Mattheus Morceshe and Wesley Nata at Riga FC.  Moreshe, 22, was also with Torpedo last season but was only a bit part player making just 4 starts and 3 sub appearances. 

TRANSFERS IN

Denis Gruzhevskiy - Sputnik Rechitsa. 20 year old midfielder joins after helping Sputnik to the first league title. He started his career at the FC Minsk academy before playing for Smorgon and Sputnik in the second tier where he has made 49 appearances in 2019 and 2020. 

Aleksey Antilevskiy - Rukh Brest. Another young midfielder who joins from Rukh where he spent last season after joining from (you've guessed it!) Dynamo Brest. The 18 year old only made 4 appearances for Rukh last season. 

Maksim Bordachev - Shakhtyor Soligorsk. 34 year old defender spent last season on loan with Torpedo but now joins on a permeant basis. He made 25 appearances for the club last season. He is highly experienced with 52 caps for Belarus to his name and played over 100 times for BATE Borisov between 2009 and 2013. 

Igor Burko - Shakhtyor Soligorsk. 32 year old defender returns to Torpedo after a five year stay with Shakhtyor where he made over 100 appearances and helped them to the title in 2020. 

Evgeni Abramovich - Arsenal Dzerzhinsk. Goalkeeper aged 25 returns to the club where he started his career but never made a first team appearance. He joins after playing 18 games for Arsenal last season and 16 for Smolevichi in the 2019 season whom he helped to the First League title. 

Samuel Odeyobo - Belshina Bobruisk. Nigerian midfielder/defender joins from relegated Belshina where he has been for the last two seasons. He has also played for Granit, Naftan and Krumkachy. 

Lipe Veloso - Lviv (Ukraine). Joins on a permeant basis after spending last season on loan with Torpedo. The skilful Brazilian, aged 23, attacking midfielder made 27 appearances for the club last season scoring 6 goals.  

TRANSFERS OUT

Gabriel Ramos - Riga (Latvia). 

Nikita Kaplenko - Chakya Peschanokopskoye (Russia)

Artem Vyatkin - FK Forte Taganrog (Russia) 

Nikita Stepanov - Neman Grodno. 

Mattheus Moresche - Riga (Latvia). 

VITEBSK

Vitesbsk will want to improve on the 12th place finish last season. Considering  thy finished in 4th in 2018 to qualify for the 19/20 UEFA Europa League they will want to move upwards in the 2021 season. If they can convert the 12 draws they had last season into some wins they will move closer to the top of the league. 

They will be under new management for the 2021 campaign following the departure of Sergey Yasinsky who has left to coach the Belarus under 21 team. He had been with Vitebsk since 2015 and was one of the longest serving coaches in the Premier League. 

The new man in charge is Evgeni Chernukhin, 36, who moves from BATE Borisov where he was assistant manager to both Alshevsky (now Rukh boss) and Lisovsky last season. It's his first job as number one - He was assistant to Yasinsky at Vitebsk from 2015 to 2017 so knows the club inside and out which will show some stability despite the change in management. 

TRANSFERS IN

Alexander Ksenofontov - Dynamo Minsk. 21 year old defender joins permanently after playing on loan last season. 

Alexander Yanuskevich - Isloch. Highly experienced defender who has also played for Shakhtyor Soligorsk, Torpedo Zhodino and Dyanmo Minsk moves after two seasons with Isloch. At 35 years old Vitebsk is probably going to be the last team he represents in the top tier of Belarusian Football. 

Andrey Lebedev - Zetsu (Kazakhstan). 29 year old defender returns to Belarus after a three season spell with Zetsu. Born and bred in Vitebsk and started his career with the club so likely to be a real fan favourite this season. 

Alexander Bulychev - Shakhtyor Soligorsk. Midfielder, 21, who spent a short spell on loan with Gorodeya last season.

Andrey Shemruk - FC Minsk. Only started 7 league games for FCM last season - the defender will be looking to get more game time in Vitebsk. 

 

TRANSFERS OUT

Sergey Volkov - BATE Borisov 

Evgeni Klopostsky - Rukh Brest