Head coach of Dnipro-1 – about the situation in the club
On Monday, July 22, the UAF Executive Committee will make a decision about replacing SC Dnipro-1 in the UPL championship. On Thursday, July 26th, The first match of the second qualifying round of the Conference League is scheduled for the Dnipro club with the Hungarian Puskas Academy. Dnipro-1 has already notified the Premier League of its withdrawal from the 2024/2025 season. There is no official information about the European Cups, but it is unlikely that the Dnipro club will play in them. The current state of affairs at Dnepr-1 Sport Arena was discussed by the club’s head coach Yuriy Maksimov.
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— As far as I know, on July 15th, almost all employees, football players and all base personnel were fired, — says Yuri Vilyevich. – As of July 21, there are only three employees left on the club’s staff: head coach Yuri Maksimov, club director Anton Fursov and an accountant. Now the three of us can play a famous card game – space rams. This is the card game of my childhood.
As for football, we can also invite Evgeniy Seleznev, Nikolay Ishchenko, Sergey Revut, Nikolay Medina and Andrey Polunin. How many players are needed to start an official match – seven? We will find them.
— Yuri Vilyevich, you worked at Dnepr-1 for one season. What are your main impressions from this period of time?
— We had crazy footballers, mostly Ukrainian players. Now we see that they are all in demand by other teams and I am very happy about that. However, I am sad and sorrowful that such a team has disappeared from our football.
— Can you remember any interesting story from the life of the team?
— I remember our last game in the 2023/2024 season. We won 2-0 against Chornomorets in Odessa and accomplished our goal – we got into the European Cups. After the end of this match, many of the guys went home, and only a few people went to Dnipro by bus.
Gutsulyak, Svatok and Lednev got together to play joker and invited me as the fourth. We played for small money. I asked the guys who was the funniest at the card table. They told me – Lednev. In the end, Gutsulyak and Svatok stayed with their money, and Lednev lost about 6,800 hryvnia. We told him that they would write off his loss from my winnings. In general, joker is a game for real football players, you need to think here. For me, this is an indicator that this card game develops thinking. Those who know how to play joker will be able to prove themselves on the football field.
— Where are you now, in the current off-season?
— At home, in Kyiv, at the dacha. I recently bought a small puppy and I am training it. I know German. And I also know three other languages — jellied, beef and pork. In general, it is extremely sad that Dnipro-1 is disappearing. And all this is happening in a city of a million people, where there are huge football traditions. It is clear that we do not know all the reasons for the disappearance of the football club, but we must assume that there are reasons for this. And life, including football, goes on.
— Yuri Vilyevich, what are your immediate plans?
— I’ll probably become a blogger for now. Then, an analyst. Then, I’ll probably complete the PASS courses to be able to work as a head coach.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
