Pyotr Pyatrovich Kachura ( be, Пётр Качура, russian: Петр Качуро, ''Petr Kachuro''; born 2 August 1972) is a Belarusian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. Starting off with his home town club Dynamo Minsk he went on to have spells at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games a ...

in England and Chengdu Wuniu in China before returning to his homeland, playing for Minsk for a second spell and later for

Sokol Saratov PFC Sokol (russian: ПФК "Сокол") is a Russian association football club based in Saratov. In 2001 and 2002, Sokol played in the Russian Premier League. Currently the club plays in the third-level FNL 2. History The club was founded a ...

. Following his retirement he went on to have a spell as manager at Dinamo Minsk in 2006–07. Internationally, he made 29 appearances, scoring five goals for the Belarus national team. During his time in England he used an

Anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

version of his name and was referred to as Petr or Peter Katchouro.

Club career

Kachura started his playing career at his hometown club

FC Dinamo Minsk FC Dinamo Minsk ( be, ФК Дынама Мінск, ''FK Dynama Minsk''; russian: link=no, ФК Динамо Минск) is a professional football club based in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk. It was founded in 1927 as part of the Sov ...

, the most successful team in Belarus having won the

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belaru ...

a record seven times since it began in 1992. Kachura was part of the side which won the Belarusian Premier League in 1995. In July 1996,

signed Kachura for £650,000. He scored 14 goals in his first season as the Blades finished in fifth place in

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First Div ...

and qualified for the

Playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

. However, the Blades lost 1–0 to

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in the final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, with a last minute

David Hopkin David Isaac Hopkin (born 21 August 1970) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who was most recently the manager of Ayr United. As a player he was a midfielder from 1989 until 2003, notably in the English Premier League ...

goal shattering United's promotion dream. Kachura was awarded for his performances by being given the 1996–97 player of the season award at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall family of file and graver manufacturers. ...

. The following season he made just 16 appearances, due to injuries, as the Blades qualified for the playoffs once again by finishing in sixth place. This time they lost in the semi-finals, with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

defeating the Blades 3–2 on aggregate, after the Blades had held a 2–1 lead going into the second leg. Kachura failed to score that season, but made amends in the next season, as he scored six goals in 16 appearances as the Blades failed to qualify for the playoffs by finishing in a disappointing eighth place, nine points from the playoffs. Kachura missed a large part of the season due to a

punctured lung A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve i ...

injury in the 4–0 home defeat to Sunderland. His final season in England saw him score three goals in 30 appearances as the Blades woeful start condemned them to a 16th-place finish, as

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...

replaced

Adrian Heath Adrian Paul Heath (born 11 January 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He currently serves as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United FC. As a player, he is best known for his six seasons at Everton, where ...

as manager in early December and rescued the Blades from relegation. In March 2000 Kachura was transferred to Chinese side Chengdu Wuniu on a free transfer. He stayed there for one season before re-joining his hometown club Dinamo Minsk in August 2000.

International career

Kachura made his debut for the Belarus national team on 25 May 1994, in a 3–1 loss against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

in a friendly.

Coaching career

After Kachura retired from playing, Kachura became a football coach. His former club,

, appointed him in November 2006, but replaced him after the first match of the

2007 Belarusian Premier League The 2007 Belarusian Premier League was the 17th season of top-tier football in Belarus. It started on April 14 and ended on November 10, 2007. BATE Borisov were the defending champions. Team changes from 2006 season Lokomotiv Minsk and Belshina ...

season.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Belarus' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kachura goal.''

Honours

Dinamo Minsk *

: 1993–94, 1994–95,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

Belarusian Cup The Belarusian Cup () is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs in Belarus. The tournament is organized by the Football Federation of Belarus. Belarusian Cup was established in 1992. Each year the winnin ...

: 1993–94 Individual *Belarusian Premier League top scorer: 1993–94 * Sheffield United F.C. Player of the Year: 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachura, Pyotr 1972 births Living people People from Orsha Soviet footballers Belarusian footballers Belarusian expatriate footballers Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in China Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Belarus international footballers Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Russia FC Dinamo Minsk players FC Dinamo-93 Minsk players Sheffield United F.C. players Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. players FC Sokol Saratov players Soviet Top League players Belarusian Premier League players Russian Premier League players Belarusian football managers Belarusian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Tajikistan FC Dinamo Minsk managers FC Neman Grodno managers FC Lida managers Association football forwards Sportspeople from Vitebsk Region