Valery Georgiyevich Gazzaev (; ; born 7 August 1954) is a Russian politician, football manager and former footballer of Ossetian descent. As a Soviet footballer he played the position of a striker enjoying successes with his team FC Dynamo Moscow as well as the USSR national football team in the Olympics.
Gazzaev became a coach in 1989. He was most successful when he was in charge in CSKA Moscow from 2004 to 2008. There Gazzaev won every possible Russian title three times each, as well as the 2005 UEFA Cup. He is considered one of the best football coaches to have emerged from the former Soviet Union because of these achievements.
Playing career
Soviet First League
Gazzaev was born 7 August 1954 in Ordzhonikidze, Russian SFSR, now Vladikavkaz, Russia. He started his playing career as a forward for his native Spartak Ordzhonikidze in the Soviet First League. In 1974, he moved to SKA Rostov-on-Don, which got promoted from the Soviet First League to the Soviet Top League after a second-place finish at the end of the season. However, Gazzaev was left behind in the first league in Spartak Ordzhonikidze, as he wasn't one of the main players of the SKA Rostov-on-Don.
Soviet Top League In the Soviet Top League, Gazzaev played in Lokomotiv Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, and Dinamo Tbilisi.
Gazzaev is a Soviet Cup winner with Dynamo Moscow in 1984. During his career he scored 89 goals in 283 matches in Soviet Top League, and was the top goal scorer of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1984–85.RSSF Stats. Rsssf.com (18 December 2003). Retrieved 26 August 2011.
International career He became the under-23 European champion with USSR in 1976 and under-21 European champion in 1980. He also won the bronze medal with USSR at the Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Coaching career
After finishing his playing career in 1986 Gazzaev coached the youth team of Dynamo Moscow before moving to work with professional clubs. His first major success as a manager was winning the Russian championship with Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz in 1995.
More titles followed after Gazzaev moved to coach CSKA Moscow. With them he won the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, as well as the Russian Premier League in 2003, 2005 and 2006 and the Russian Cup in 2002, 2005, and 2006, on 5 December 2008 left PFC CSKA Moscow.Valery Gazzaev has left PFC CSKA . Pfc-cska.com. Retrieved 26 August 2011. Gazzaev's CSKA Moscow team was the first side from the Russian Federation to win a European competition since the fall of the Soviet Union.
On 26 May 2009, the former CSKA Moscow coach was named as the new head coach of Dynamo Kyiv, who signed a three years contract also until 2012.
After a spell as Dynamo Kyiv head coach he returned to Vladikavkaz and became president (2011) and then also manager (November 2012) of Alania Vladikavkaz. In February 2014, the football club "Alania", led by Gazzaev, ceased to exist and pulled out of the 2013–14 Russia First Division, due to financial liquidation and sponsorship problems, and the club was dissolved.
Managerial statistics
TeamNatFromToRecord Spartak Ordzonikidze 1 January 19892 April 1991Dynamo Moscow 3 April 199115 September 1993Alania Vladikavkaz 1 January 199431 December 1999Dynamo Moscow 1 January 200016 April 2001Russia U-21 15 May 200110 November 2001PFC CSKA Moscow 11 November 200113 November 2003Russia 8 July 200225 August 2003PFC CSKA Moscow 13 July 20045 December 2008Dynamo Kyiv1 June 20091 October 2010Alania Vladikavkaz16 November 201210 June 2013Total
Politics In 2016, he was elected to the State Duma as a member of A Just Russia party. In the State Duma, he headed the Committee on Nationalities. From 4 February 2020, he served as Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs. Following the 2021 State Duma elections, he was not re-elected.
Personal life He is a cousin of Yuri Gazzaev and father of Vladimir Gazzayev, both of them football coaches as well.
Honours
Player Dynamo Moscow Soviet Top League: 1976 Soviet Cup: 1977, 1984 Soviet Super Cup: 1977 Ciutat de Barcelona Trophy: 1976
Manager Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz Russian Top League: 1995
PFC CSKA Moscow Russian Premier League: 2003, 2005, 2006 Russian Cup: 2001–02, 2004–05, 2005–06 Russian Super Cup: 2004, 2006, 2007 UEFA Cup: 2004–05
FC Dynamo Kyiv Ukrainian Super Cup: 2009
Individual Order of Friendship Order of Honour
See also List of UEFA Cup and Europa League–winning managers
References
External links