Replacements according to tradition: the RPL clubs that failed the season began personnel restructuring

The RPL season ended quite recently, however, coaching changes have already begun in some clubs. The new mentors will have to quickly get to know the teams and prepare them for the start of the next championship. We tell you where personnel decisions have already been made, and where the question of the head coach remains open.

The German Return

On May 22, five days after the end of the RPL championship, Dynamo Moscow announced the resignation of Rolan Gusev from the post of head coach "due to the expiration of his contract." The 48-year-old Russian specialist picked up the blue and white in November 2025, after Valery Karpin's departure. Then Gusev was the acting head coach. At the end of December, the Dynamo management approved him as a full-fledged head coach for the rest of the season.

With Gusev, Dynamo's results have become significantly better than under Karpin. During the winter break, the blue and white were tenth in the RPL standings, and at the end of the season they became seventh. In 15 league matches under Gusev, Dynamo scored eight wins, drew four times and lost three times, scoring 29 goals and conceding 17. Total: 28 points out of 45 total — more than under Karpin.

Perhaps Gusev's only "failure" was the defeat of Krasnodar by the sum of two matches in the final of the Russian Cup RPL. And then, in the penalty shootout of the second leg, after the home 0:0. The goal of "winning the trophy" was not achieved. By the way, Dynamo has not pleased its fans with any significant achievements since 1995, when the blue and white team won the Russian Cup. 31 years without trophies is quite a lot for a club with such a rich history.

And it would be nice to have a trophy — Dynamo did not even manage to reach the Superfinal of the Russian Cup. And if he could, Gusev could stay at the club. This was stated directly by Sergey Stepashin, a member of the board of directors of the Moscow club, commenting on the coach's dismissal.

The situation was entrusted to 47-year-old Sandro Schwartz, who signed a three—year contract with Dynamo until the summer of 2029. Interestingly, this is the German's second visit to Petrovsky Park: he previously headed the Moscow club from October 2020 to June 2022. Under him, the team scored 32 wins in 57 matches.

"Throwing oars in the championship is wrong"

Dynamo Moscow football player Anton Miranchuk — about the motivation for the end of the RPL draw and the mood to win the Russian Cup

With Schwartz, Dynamo went through a rather pleasant stage in its history: at the end of the 2021/22 season, the team won championship medals for the first time since 2008, repeating the achievement of 14 years ago (bronze), and also reached the final of the Russian Cup, which happened for the first time in 10 years. It was under Schwartz that Konstantin Tyukavin, Yaroslav Gladyshev, Alexander Kutitsky and Arsen Zakharyan started playing at Dynamo.

With the arrival of Schwartz, there have been changes in the coaching staff of Dynamo. Sandro's assistant will be 44-year-old German Volkan Bulut, who worked with Schwartz during his first stint at Dynamo, as well as at Hertha Berlin and the American New York Red Bulls. But Yuri Zhirkov and Roman Sharonov, who helped Gusev, left the team. It is possible that they will reunite again if Gusev finds a new club in the near future.

Akron is looking for a replacement for Tedeev

It was not without difficulty that Akron retained its registration in the RPL for the next season. And at the cost of firing the head coach.

During the spring part of the championship, the club from Tolyatti regressed from a strong middle peasant to a contender for direct relegation to the First League. In 12 matches, there was only one victory (1-0 over Baltika away), and as many as eight defeats with three draws.

In the last round, the 30th, Akron needed to win in order to protect itself from the joint zone. And then there's the principal rival, the Samara Wings of the Soviets, a geographical neighbor. Akron suffered a fiasco, "burning out" in the 1-4 derby, conceding all the goals in the first half, and added to its headache in the form of transitional matches.

The defeat by Krylia was a verdict for Zaur Tedeev, who has led the Tolyatti team since December 2023. The club's management appointed Murat Iskakov, who was a member of Tedeev's headquarters, to the play-off matches with the Volgograd Rotor. And it didn't go wrong: Akron won 2-1 in the sum of two matches, and thus retained its registration in the elite for the next season.

Elite selection: how Akron and Dynamo (Makhachkala) retained their places in the RPL

"Rotor" could have punished the favorite, "Ural" did not create problems for Evseev's team.

At the moment, there are no details about Iskakov's future at Akron, although he already had head coaching experience at Tambov and Avangard Kursk. And before working with Tedeev, Murat was Vladimir Fedotov's assistant at Sochi and CSKA. Meanwhile, Tedeev is being wooed by the media to Paris NN, which was relegated to the First League at the end of the season.

Igdisamov is almost the head coach of CSKA

After the spring failure of Swiss Fabio Celestini, who was dismissed on May 4, the CSKA leadership entrusted the rest of the season to 39-year-old Dmitry Igdisamov. He was a member of the Celestini headquarters, and has been in the army club system since 2019.

An emotional shake-up through a coaching reshuffle helped CSKA finish the season more or less decently. Yes, they failed to pass Spartak in the final of the Path of the Regions, but in the RPL, the Army team won two victories in two matches, ending the season in fifth place (at the time of Celestini's departure, CSKA was sixth).

It is highly likely that Igdisamov will start the new season as a full-fledged head coach of CSKA. The Championship has already reported on such plans of the club, and Dmitry was indirectly "approved" ... by the owner of Akron, Pavel Morozov. In an interview with Match TV, the functionary confirmed his interest in Igdisamov, but noted that "it was the right decision for CSKA to appoint him in charge." So, most likely, the official approval of Igdisamov as the head coach of CSKA for next season is a matter of time.