Sergey Kulichenko, the head of the Russian national football team. Biography

Sergei Kulichenko, the head of the Russian national football team, has died at the age of 48. He was one of the key administrators of Russian football, responsible for organizing the work of the national team. He has worked his way up from a professional football player to a senior position in the structure of the Russian Football Union (RFU). About his life and professional career — in the material of "Izvestia".

Early years and family

Sergey Valerievich Kulichenko was born on February 3, 1978 in the city of Karaganda (Kazakhstan). His father, Valery Kulichenko, was an honored Soviet athletics coach, and his mother, Valentina Kulichenko (nee Gerasimova), is a former world record holder in the 800 meters.

Professional football career

Kulichenko played as a striker. In 1996-1997, he played for the reserve team of CSKA Moscow (CSKA-d), having played 65 matches and scored 26 goals. He played 6 matches for the main squad of CSKA and scored 1 goal.

In 1998, he played for CSKA-2 (14 matches, 5 goals). In 1999, he played for the Estonian club Lantana (Tallinn) — 10 matches, 5 goals, and also became the bronze medalist of the Estonian championship. In the same year, he played 1 match for the Samara Wings of the Soviets, and then played for the Belgian Mechelen.

In 2000, he returned to CSKA, having played 3 matches. In 2001, he played for Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod (4 matches). In 2002, he played for Torpedo-ZIL Moscow (9 matches), and in 2002-2003 — for Fakel Voronezh (13 matches). In total, he played 19 matches and scored 1 goal in the Russian championships. Kulichenko was also called up to the Russian national youth team (under-21), where he played 2 matches in 1999.

The beginning of an administrative career

After finishing his football career, Kulichenko moved to administrative work in the RFU structure. From 2005 to 2012, he worked as a manager, team leader and administrator of the national, youth, Olympic and youth men's national teams of Russia.

Since 2011, Kulichenko has served as the head of the Russian national teams at the Federal State Budgetary Institution "CSP" of Russia (Ministry of Sports). In mid-2012, he was appointed CEO of Ivanovo Textile Workers, but was unable to take up this post due to his work as an administrator for the Russian national team, where he was banned from combining positions.

From June 2012 to July 2021, Kulichenko worked as a senior administrator for the Russian men's national football team. On the staff of head coach Stanislav Cherchesov, he served as chief administrator.

Appointment as head of the Russian national team

In August 2021, Sergey Kulichenko was appointed head of the Russian national football team. In this position, he served as the general manager of the national team. The appointment came after Evgeny Savin, who had been working in this position since 2012, left the post of general manager of the national team. At that time, the national team was already headed by Valery Karpin, who replaced Cherchesov on July 23.