The Russian national football team will undergo a dramatic transformation
following its poor performance at UEFA Euro 2016, Sports Minister Vitaly
Mutko told the Interfax news agency Friday.
“We have neither the coach nor the team, we are starting with a clean
slate, but by Aug.29, we should have formed a team,” Mutko was quoted as
saying by Interfax.
Mutko noted that some Russian footballers
performed unprofessionally during Euro 2016.
Russia's national football team failed to make it through to the
play-off round at Euro 2016 in France after a crushing 3-0 defeat to
Wales. This was followed by the resignation of the team's coach Leonid
Slutsky — the man who succeeded Fabio Capello in August last year.
The defeat stirred criticism from Russian officials and ordinary
citizens. An online petition to disband the national team
was published on the change.org website in June and gathered almost 950,000
signatures.
Mutko also said that three of the four candidates for the position of
the team's new coach have already agreed to take up the new post, the
TASS news agency reported.
The fourth candidate is expected to announce his decision on Friday. The
candidates include the Turkmen football manager Kurban Berdyev and
Russian football managers Alexander Borodyuk, Sergei Semak and Stanislav
Cherchesov.
The new coach is expected to be announced within the next three weeks.
