Valery Georgiyevich Gazzaev (; ; born 7 August 1954) is a Russian politician,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

because of these achievements.

Playing career

Soviet First League

Gazzaev was born 7 August 1954 in Ordzhonikidze,

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, now

Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () or Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus, situated on the Terek (river), Terek River. ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. 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 Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia (country), Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its Association football, football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating ...

. Gazzaev is a

Soviet Cup The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (),, , , (Moldovan Cyrillic: Купа УРСС), , , . was the premier football cup competition in the Soviet Union conducted by the Football Federation of the Soviet Union. The 1991–92 season of the tournam ...

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.

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 Professional Football Club CSKA (, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English language, English: ''Central Sports Club of the Army''), commonly referred to as CSKA Moscow or ''CSK ...

. Gazzaev's CSKA Moscow team was the first side from the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

to win a European competition since the fall of the

. 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

Politics

In 2016, he was elected to the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

as a member of A Just Russia party.

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 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, 1984 * Soviet Super Cup:

* Ciutat de Barcelona Trophy: 1976

Manager

Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz * Russian Top League: 1995 PFC CSKA Moscow *

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

: 2003,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, 2006 * Russian Cup: 2001–02, 2004–05, 2005–06 * Russian Super Cup:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, 2006,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 2004–05 FC Dynamo Kyiv * Ukrainian Super Cup:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Individual * Order of Friendship * Order of Honour

References

External links

* *
Profile at RussiaTeam
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gazzaev, Valery Kutafin Moscow State Law University alumni UEFA Europa League–winning managers Soviet men's footballers Soviet Top League players Soviet First League players FC Spartak Vladikavkaz players FC SKA Rostov-on-Don players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players FC Dynamo Moscow players Soviet Union men's international footballers Olympic footballers for the Soviet Union Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Soviet football managers Russian men's footballers Russian football managers Russian expatriate football managers 1954 births Living people FC Spartak Vladikavkaz managers FC Dynamo Moscow managers PFC CSKA Moscow managers FC Dynamo Kyiv managers Russian Premier League managers Russia national football team managers Footballers from Vladikavkaz Ossetian footballers Ukrainian Premier League managers Olympic medalists in football Russian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate football managers in Ukraine Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Seventh convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) A Just Russia politicians Russian sportsperson-politicians Men's association football forwards Ossetian politicians 20th-century Russian sportsmen