At an executive committee meeting, the Belarusian Football Federation has announced Alexander Khatskevich as the new head coach of the men’s national team
No other candidates were considered at the meeting chaired by Sergei Rumas. Mr. Khatskevich received support from 18 members and one participant abstained. As a result, Alexander will occupy the post, which has stood vacant since October 13th when the former head coach, Georgy Kondratiev, resigned. The latter took the decision to leave following his team’s bad start in the Euro 2016 qualifying tournament. Initially, the Belarusians played in a draw (1:1) in Luxembourg and then lost twice: against Ukraine at home (0:2) and against Slovakia (0:3). Mr. Kondratiev’s assistant, Andrey Zygmantovich, coached the team during the last two matches when Belarus lost away against Spain (0:3) and then won a friendly match against Mexico at home (3:2).
Alexander Khatskevich began his career with FC Dinamo Minsk in 1992. He also played for Dinamo Kiev, FC Tianjin Teda (China), and FK Venta (Latvia). Mr. Khatskevich is a seven-times Ukrainian champion and a double Ukraine Cup holder. He has won the Belarusian championships four times and the Belarus Cup once. The sportsman was a double silver medallist at the Belarusian football championships and a silver medallist at the Ukrainian football championships. He’s been named Belarus’ best footballer in 1998 and 2000.
From 1993 to 2005, Mr. Khatskevich played 38 matches for the Belarusian national team, scoring four goals. He started his coaching career with FC Dinamo Minsk in 2007 and was a player-manager for FC Dinamo Minsk from April to November 2007. The Belarusian Football Federation then appointed him head coach of the Belarusian junior national team. Since July 2008, Mr. Khatskevich has coached FC Vitebsk and, in February 2010, he joined the Ukrainian national team as an assistant coach. In 2010, the Belarusian specialist also coached the junior Dinamo Kiev team and, in July 2013, was appointed the head coach of FC Dinamo-2 Kiev (performing in the second major division of the Ukrainian Championship).
By Kirill Karin
