In recent years, Igor Ivanovich has been actively engaged in business, which he preferred after his playing career ended. His brief time on the coaching staff of Mariupol's Metallurg in the second half of the 90s, where Belanov was team manager, can now be viewed in different ways. Either as negative experience, after which it was decided to give up trying to coach, or as positive, prompting thoughts about a future in football marketing.
Despite the fact that the essence of Abramovich's and Belanov's acquisitions is completely identical, in terms of cost they are worlds apart. The governor of Chukotka spent tens of millions on Chelsea, while the Odessa native spent "merely" hundreds of thousands.
Nevertheless, interest in the new type of activity of our legionnaires is very high. The role of owner of a foreign club is unusual for us. Managing a group of people with a different mentality and understanding of life is not so simple. And how well Belanov will succeed, time will tell. Now, just a month after the deal, one can only note that Igor Ivanovich has tried to surround himself with well-known people.
Firstly, his business partner and closest assistant in the purchase of Wil was and remains Gennady Perepadenko, a former footballer of Zaporizhzhia's Metallurg, Odessa's Chernomorets and Moscow's Spartak, who settled in Spain after his playing career. Secondly, the coaching staff of Wil has been joined by figures well known in Ukrainian football - Mikhail Oshomkov, a manager who went through all of Lobanovsky's school, and Yuri Romensky, former goalkeeper of Chernomorets and Kyiv Dynamo.
Now Alexander Zavarov will also work at Wil - one of the most decorated footballers of the USSR, who received an offer in mid-August to join the team's coaching staff.
In 1986, when Kyiv Dynamo won the Cup Winners' Cup, and the USSR national team, half made up of Kyiv players, lost to Mexico (the World Cup hosts) in the 1/8 finals only due to dishonest work by referees - 3:4. In that memorable match Belanov scored three goals, and at the end of the year, when the best footballer in Europe was being determined, he received the Golden Ball, becoming the third Soviet footballer after Lev Yashin and Oleg Blokhin to achieve such recognition. Interestingly, in that same 1986, the best footballer of the USSR was named not Belanov - the best footballer of Europe - but... Zavarov. So the golden pair of 1986 is together again. 17 years after their triumph. True, in a different guise.
It should also be noted that Belanov (president of Wil) and Zavarov (most likely the head coach of the team) are not only the most star personalities of the Swiss club, but also the most experienced among our compatriots working at Wil.
Both Igor Ivanovich and Alexander Anatolyevich not only went through an excellent school in the Soviet top league, the pinnacle of which was playing for Kyiv Dynamo. They won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1986, earned silver medals at the 1988 European Championship, were called up to the world team for exhibition matches, and almost simultaneously received invitations to play abroad.
Here the paths of the two peers diverged. Zavarov left for Turin's Juventus back in 1988, where they wanted to see him in the role of the new Michel - the great French playmaker Platini, who had ended his brilliant career. Belanov a year later went to Mönchengladbach, to the once glorious Borussia, whose successes in the German championship are associated with the 70s.
But things did not work out for either Igor or Alexander. Belanov spent two seasons with Borussia, after which he moved to a lower-ranked team - Eintracht from Braunschweig, and then completely returned to his homeland, playing a bit in the mid-90s for his native Chernomorets and Mariupol's Metallurg.
Zavarov, although he was involved in Juventus's victory in the UEFA Cup (even scored a goal on the way to the final), unlike Belarusian midfielder Sergei Aleinikov, did not play in the decisive matches and cannot be fully considered the holder of the prestigious prize. Moreover, he never managed to become a full-fledged replacement for Platini in the Turin side. The notorious complex of our compatriots who, getting to the West, believe they have achieved everything and stop developing, cease to be demanding of themselves in conditions of universal permissiveness, worked in these two cases as well.
The adoration of fans, which accompanied the pupil of Luhansk football at first, gave way to disappointment. Zavarov's departure to France did not particularly upset anyone. And in France, the best footballer of the USSR in 1986 stayed for a long time. He gave five years to Nancy, then moved to the obscure Saint-Dizier, where in 1996 he ended his active career and moved into a coaching position. He coached amateurs, and then worked with the youth of Nancy. In France, Zavarov's son, Alexander Jr., has already started his performances, who has not yet managed to make a name for himself. Maybe he will succeed at Wil, if his father takes him there?
The appearance of Ukrainian legionnaires in this Swiss club cannot be ruled out. Just like any others. At the same time, Belanov does not want it to look as if new owners came in, made a fuss, and fired everyone. "First I want to look, weigh everything carefully. The coach is working well so far. He just lacks assistants. And there are too few good forwards. We want to bring one goalkeeper from Ukraine. Three or four players of other roles would not hurt either. We came here with money and want to put everything on a professional track. We agreed with the Swiss like this: they handle all the paperwork, and I as a professional will deal with sports."
Seemingly, it's great that Belanov and his partners decided to take on Wil and make it one of the best in Switzerland. But one question bothers me: why is the Ukrainian businessman's money being invested not in our football, but in Swiss football? That is exactly what the correspondent of the Ukrainian BBC service asked Igor Ivanovich.
"Probably, this question should be asked not of me, but of the country of Ukraine. I wasn't afraid at all; I thought everything through clearly, and that's why I came to Wil. We took on a club that, in principle, we can handle. We aren't chasing after Barcelona or Real Madrid. We, of course, don't have that kind of money. Wil is a mid-level club in which we see great prospects. There are six magnificent fields and a small stadium that we would like to reconstruct. So, after consulting with my friend Gennadiy Perepadenko, who now lives in Barcelona and is a very serious businessman, we opened the company 'New Building Design'.
"There is much I don't like in the club. At first, it reminded me of an amateur team, although it plays in the top division. Only one coach handles the team. I asked him why he works without assistants, and got the answer — there is no money.
"Dream? As Valeriy Lobanovskyi said, in order to achieve something, you first need to dream, and then work hard. I have no right to talk about crazy plans yet; that would be incorrect. I dream that Wil plays in European competitions. Not in the Champions League, but at least in the UEFA Cup. I dream of building a decent stadium and turning the six fields into an excellent training base. There is a wonderful prospect here and remarkable people."