Two in one: Degtyarev was offered to introduce a limit on foreign coaches

Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev held a meeting with members of the Board of the Association of Russian Football Coaches (OOTF), where they discussed the development of youth football, support for Russian players and new approaches to the financing system. The issues of the limit on foreign players and specialists in domestic football were also raised. The official was asked to "consider the possibility of introducing" restrictions on the number of foreign coaches, as well as options for limiting the number of foreign players in the Russian Premier League (RPL).

The limit on foreign coaches

According to the Degtyarev-on-Sport Telegram channel, the Minister of Sports recently met with former head coaches of the Russian national team. Mikhail Gershkovich, chairman of the OOTF, Stanislav Cherchesov, head coach of Akhmat, Yuri Semin, who led Lokomotiv for a long time, and Valery Gazzaev, who won the UEFA Cup with CSKA.

"A special topic is the economics of clubs, which, despite their high degree of dependence on public finances, find it more profitable to acquire foreign players than to educate their players," the report says. — Experts have proposed a number of measures: reducing the number of foreigners in the application, taxes on additional foreign players, a limit on foreign coaches and strengthening the role of the head coach in recruiting the squad. These proposals will also be carefully studied.

It is reported that the experts present at the meeting agreed on the need to impose a limit on the number of foreign coaches in RPL clubs. It is assumed that the head coach's staff should include no more than two foreigners, the rest of its members should be local specialists.

"That's the right idea," Sergei Tashuev, ex—coach of Akhmat and Fakel, said in an interview with Izvestia. — When you come to our regional clubs, they ask that one coach be a local. This is done in order for him to enrich himself and gain experience. I think that's how it should be. Among foreigners, it is necessary to take not just anyone, but coaches who will leave a mark on our football. The specialist must also match the style of the club. So that it is beneficial for the club, and not for the sports director.

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Discussions on the limit

According to insider Ivan Karpov in his Telegram channel, Semin, Cherchesov and Gazzaev also proposed reducing the number of foreigners in the RPL club's application to eight to nine people. Experts noted that the low level of foreign players is due to the fact that their selection is handled by club management, not coaches. At the meeting, it was also proposed to introduce a tax on additional foreigners, which will be calculated depending on the team's position in the table at the end of the season.

— Stanislav Cherchesov proposed to maintain the limit as a tool to protect the domestic market — to introduce a tax on additional foreigners in the application, which will be calculated based on the club's position in the standings at the end of the season: the higher, the higher the price, — the Ministry of Sports said in a press release.

Earlier, Degtyarev announced that by 2028, the league will tighten the limit on foreigners. The current version of "13 legionnaires in the application for the season and eight on the field at the same time" will be replaced by a new one — "10 legionnaires in the application for the season and five on the field at the same time."

At the same time, at the forum "Russia — a sports power", which was held in Samara from November 5-7, the Minister of Sports noted the following.

— I organized a discussion in July about the limit on foreign players, and it is still ongoing, — said Degtyarev. — We will put an end to this issue in the near future. There was a good article recently that nine of the ten most paid players in the RPL are foreigners. And objectively not of the best quality. Some championship matches would look more organic on some other continent, and not in Russia. Also, our coaches sometimes feel like an extra link.

Andrey Arshavin, Zenit's deputy chairman of the Board for sports development and a legend of Russian football, has a different opinion.

"I'm against the limit,— Arshavin emphasized. — Now is the best option. A hard limit is nonsense. I think we should leave it as it is. Is the minister embarrassed that nine of the 10 highest—paid foreign players in the championship are foreigners? I've seen this chart, and it's well deserved. Sobolev is there, but he's not the best Russian right now — there should be another one with the same salary (laughs). What should I do in this situation? You can yell at the camera and do nothing on the sidelines. It's only getting worse. And I hope that the process is underway on the sidelines. But recent decisions... It hinders the industry, it will slow down the development of football. We will see the consequences only in the future. If the limit is tightened… We worked in all conditions. Subsequently, everything will roll back and be reformed. We'll just make a conclusion about the loss of time later.

Arshavin's words can also be understood. If the limit is reduced, clubs will have to quickly review their strategy for using foreign players. Many of the foreigners have long-term contracts. How to deal with them? Sell at discounted prices due to time constraints? Break off compensation agreements? These are direct losses, but there are also indirect losses that may be even more significant. Due to the new restrictions, the championship will lose its entertainment value, which will affect the desire to cooperate with sponsor clubs that need stars and a bright spectacle in the league. As a result, there is a decrease in attendance and TV ratings, the cost of advertising contracts, and a decrease in the commercial income of RPL teams.