Vitaly Vitalyevich Kafanov (; ; born 24 May 1960) is a

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

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 ...

coach and a former player. He is the goalkeepers' coach with

Russia national football team The Russia national football team () represents Russia in men's international football. It is controlled by the Russian Football Union (, ), the governing body for football in Russia. Russia's home ground is the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and ...

Club career

He would start his youth career in

Turkmen SSR The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Turkmenistan, the Turkmen SSR, TuSSR, Turkmenistan, or Turkmenia, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union located in Soviet Central Asia, ...

, nowadays

. He began his professional career with Kolkozchi Ashkhabad. He made his senior football debut in 1982 for this club. In the USSR championship, he also played for the Sokol Saratov, before spending one season with

Uralmash Yekaterinburg FC Ural Yekaterinburg () is a Russian professional association football club based in Yekaterinburg that plays in the Russian First League. History The club was founded in 1930 and was known as Avangard (1930–1948, 1953–1957), Zenit (1944� ...

in the

Soviet First League The Soviet First League in football () was the second highest division of Soviet football,Evgeni Kazakov. The Soviet First Football League (Первая лига СССР по футболу)''. History of Soviet football championships. Volume 1 ...

. Kafanov has extensive experience in the championship of Kazakhstan for FC Kairat and FC Elimay. He is a three-time champion of Kazakhstan (1992, 1994, 1995) and a two-time winner of the Kazakhstan Cup (1992 and 1995). He retired at the

Nisa Aşgabat Nisa Aşgabat is a Turkmen professional football club based in Aşgabat. They relegated from the top division in Turkmen football in 2006 and currently play in the second division, the Birinji liga. Their home stadium is Nisa-Çandybil Stadium ...

in 1998.

Coach career

Russian media consider Kafanov to be one of the country's strongest in

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

s. Following his playing career, Kafanov became a manager, most recently with

FC Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded 1958 in Russia, in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003 Russia ...

. At the beginning of his career in Russia in 2001, Kafanov headed Kristall Smolensk, which finished the season in 10th place out of 18. He worked at Rubin Kazan from 2003 with a break of 3.5 years in 2014–2017. Together with the team, he became twice the champion of Russia, won two Russian Super Cups, one Russian Cup. In 2014–2015, he was helped to Yuri Krasnozhan in the national team of Kazakhstan. In 2019, he entered into an agreement with the

FC Rostov FC Rostov () is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don. The club competes in the Russian Premier League, playing their home matches at the Rostov Arena. History Soviet era (1930-199 ...

football club, in which he previously worked from 2015 to 2017. In July 2021, the

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, includi ...

named Kafanov as the goalkeeper coach of the

. On 26 October 2021,

announced new appointment of Kafanov as a manager of the team. On June 2025 Kafanov announced that he would not be renewing his contract, and would be leaving the club.

International career

Vitaly Kafanov played for two countries. He has three citizenships: Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Kafanov made six appearances for the

Kazakhstan national football team The Kazakhstan national football team (, , ) represents Kazakhstan in men's international association football, football and it is governed by the Kazakhstan Football Federation. They split from the Soviet Union national football team, Soviet Un ...

in 1992. Kafanov concluded his playing career in Nisa Ashgabat. Initially aiming to transition into coaching, he was given an unexpected opportunity to represent the

national team. He featured in

friendly matches An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

against Kuwait and later appeared twice official games against Lebanon during the

1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification involved 33 participating teams. The United Arab Emirates (hosts) and Japan (holders) qualified automatically for the 1996 AFC Asian Cup. Qualification Group 1 *All matches played in Vietnam. ---- ...

, showcasing his talent on the international stage.

Honours

Club

Kairat *

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Кафанов вошёл в тренерский штаб сборной России по футболу
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Managerial honours

Rubin *

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 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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 ...

* Russian Cup: 2011–12 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football (soccer), football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Rambler Russian ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Rostov *

runner-up: 2015–16

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kafanov, Vitaliy 1960 births Living people Footballers from Ashgabat Kazakhstani men's footballers Turkmenistan men's footballers Kazakhstan men's international footballers Turkmenistan men's international footballers FC Sokol Saratov players FC Ural Yekaterinburg players FC Kairat players FC Rubin Kazan managers Turkmenistan expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Kazakhstani football managers Turkmenistan football managers Russian football managers Men's association football goalkeepers Kazakhstani people of Russian descent Turkmenistan people of Russian descent FC Rostov managers Russian Premier League managers Turkmenistan expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Russia Turkmenistan expatriate sportspeople in Russia Dual internationalists (men's football) Soviet men's footballers Association football goalkeeping coaches