Vadim Vararu

In 1930s of the 20th century a new football team appeared to represent the “Gorbunov” factory from Kazan. Because it was a defensive state enterprise that needed secrecy, the football team had to change its name quite often for a sports club.  It was “The team of Leninskiy rayon” initially, then “Krylia Sovetov”, then “Iskra” and finally “Rubin” – which is the present name of the team. Rubin has inherited its pertinacious character from those times, when losing 2:6 in a friendly match against Spartak in 1947, they showed character and obtained a 6:6 draw.

Rubin’s actual appearance makes the public believe that the modest achievements they have so far is just a good start. Russian championship winner in Division I (zone “Center”), in 1997; Russian first division championship winner in 2002 and bronze prizewinner in the Russian Premier league in 2003. It’s a quite good performance to get third place in Russia’s Premier League in their very first season. Isn’t it?

Certainly, it would be a misleading to judge the team’s level this season having played just 2 games, but taking in consideration the results that Rubin has shown so far, Kurban Berdiev and company are going to raise the bar considerably (Lokomotiv 0-1 Rubin, Rubin 1-0 Luch Energya). Besides the domestic breakthrough, Kazan’s representatives reached the 1st round of UEFA Cup in 2006-2007, being eliminated after a hard struggle by Parma (Rubin 0-1 Parma, Parma 1-0 Rubin), additionally they have been involved in the second qualifying round in 2004-2005 and participated in the InterToto Cup in 2007. 

Gusev Alexandr Petrovich has been being in charge as the club’s president since 2005, acting at the same time as the vice president of Tatarstan Republic national board. In an interview given to “sport-expres.ru” Alexandr Gusev has mentioned that the primary aim for the 2007-2008 season is finish the season in a European qualification place. Also he announced that this year is going to be a 50 years jubilee for the team from Kazan (FC Rubin Kazan was founded in 1958) and they plan to celebrate it by finishing as high as possible in the Premier League.

Praise and laud to the coach – Kurban Berdiev! Since 2001 he has managed to take the club from Division 1 into the Premier league and has guided Rubin through three European campaigns. He has really done a good job, but this year will point out whether Berdiev’s abilities correspond to his president’s plans. The only thing clear for now is that Rubin have started well. Who could expect Rubin’s win over Lokomotiv Moscow in the very first round?

To understand the coach it is enough to take a look at his personal achievements: graduated High Referee School in 1991, has been “USSR Sport Master” since 1980, has played 155 matches in USSR’s championship scoring 23 goals and 211 matches in league 1, scoring 32 goals. The most well-known football club coached by Kurban Berdiev was Genclerbirligi from Turkey, but he has also worked with “Khimik”, “Kayrat”, “Munayshi”, “Nisa” and “Kristal”, none of whom though, are as famous in Russia as Rubin Kazan. From 1997 – 1999 Kurban Berdiev also headed Turkmenistan’s national team.

Though, Rubin’s player list doesn’t remind us of the “Galacticos”, the team nevertheless shows good organised, tactical football. There are a few well-known veteran footballers, like midfielders Serghey Rebrov, Serghey Semak, Turkish international Karadeniz and forward Savo Milosevic, all of them playing, surely, an important role in the team’s development and performance. Rubin’s young players add their speed, energy and persistence to the mix, so we can say that Berdiev has found a good balance between youth and experience.

One of the veterans is 36 year old Andrey Fedorov, who has represented Rubin since 2000 and surely deserves to wear the captain’s armband. He has played in a variety of positions for the team and always gives more than 100% so that nobody can say he wears captain’s band for “nothing”. Several days ago, six Rubin players were called up for the Russian National Team, a fact that further shows the value of team’s line-up.

It is interesting to note that Rubin Kazan actually owns two stadiums, this is a bit strange for a Russian club. The first team play at the “Central Stadium” (30000 seats), while Rubin-2 and Rubin-reserves play at the “Rubin” (10000 seats) stadium. Both of them are modern and have everything a good stadium is supposed to have, beginning with “Motomatic” grass covering and ending with a large VIP lodge that offers 133 seats for special guests. 4666 square meters of sporting facilities could set an example to other Russian teams by reason of a big hotel complex, dinner complex and medical-sanitary center. There are, certainly, excellent conditions for the footballers’ professional development.

Russia’s Premier League has only really just started, but if the crew from Kazan continues doing so well, then they have got a big chance to turn the president’s dreams into reality and to celebrate their 50 years anniversary in style!