Lyubov Nepop argued that greater support from the West and from the Hungarian government is crucial, because if Putin defeats Ukraine, he will go on because he wants to restore the Soviet sphere of influence.Continue reading
“It must be a matter of honor for Hungarian football club Fradi to terminate the contract of its Russian coach,” said the Ukrainian ambassador to Hungary in a recent interview with left-wing daily Népszava.
This article was originally published on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
The Ukrainian-Russian war has also penetrated the sports world. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian athletes and teams have been excluded from various international competitions. But sanctions have also been imposed in other areas outside of politics and business. These were listed by Ambassador Lyubov Nepop in a recent interview.
“Russia is being excluded from international organizations. Russia must recognize that it will pay a heavy price for such brutal violations of international law, e.g. attacking a sovereign state and killing its people. Russian conductor Valery Gergiev was dismissed from the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and world-famous Russian soprano Anna Netrebko withdrew from her future engagements,” the ambassador said, stressing that
“It must be a matter of honor for Hungarian football club Fradi to terminate the contract of its Russian coach in the same way. In addition, Ukrainian sports daily Tribuna also recently urged the green-whites to get rid of Cherchesov hired in the winter. In an Instagram post, the outlet wrote that,
We demand the dismissal of head coach Cherchesov, who represents the country of the aggressor and has yet to make a public statement against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Cherchesov has repeatedly expressed support for Putin and his regime. We demand decisive action from the leadership of Ferencváros. Otherwise, the Ukrainian people will not forgive you for this” reads the Ukrainian newspaper’s Instagram page both in Hungarian and Ukrainian.
The 58-year-old former Russian goalkeeper was appointed head coach of FTC, led by ruling Fidesz’s party director Gábor Kubatov, in December. After a weak start (only one victory in the first three games) Fradi is already showing an improving performance and remained unbeaten in its last five clashes (3 wins, 2 draws).
As fate would have it, the Russian coach’s predecessor was Ukrainian Sergiy Rebrov (in between the two, Peter Stöger’s leadership did come out well, and the Austrian was replaced after only half a season). As a matter of fact, Rebrov’s wife has also publicly demanded Cherchesov’s removal lately.
Cherchesov, a North Ossetian by origin, had previously led the Russian national team for almost five years. He coached the ‘Sbornaya,’ when it surprisingly reached the quarterfinals in the 2018 World Cup (by knocking out Spain in the round of 16 by penalties), which the country hosted. Vladimir Putin, with whom he reportedly maintains a good relationship, even awarded Cherchesov with the Order of Alexander Nevsky for the performance.
However, Russia failed to advance from the group at the European Championship in 2020, which eventually cost Cherchesov his job.
In the featured photo: Stanislav Cherchesov. Photo by Zoltán Máthé/MTI
