Oleg Georgiyevich Kononov (russian: Олег Георгиевич Кононов, born 23 March 1966) is a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and a former player. He is the manager of Arsenal Tula.

Playing career

Oleg Kononov began his playing career in Russia at

Iskra Smolensk FC Iskra Smolensk (russian: «Искра» (Смоленск)) was a Russian football team from Smolensk. It played professionally in 1937 and 1960 to 1994. In 1995 it merged with FC Kristall Smolensk. They played on the second-highest level in ...

in 1983. He later moved to Belarus, where he would play for various clubs until 1999. In 1998, he was named the

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusi ...

Player of the year. Playing at KIM Vitebsk, he became the runner-up of the

Managing career

Sheriff Tiraspol

The most glory Kononov attained as a coach, was while in charge of

FC Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff (russian: ФК Шериф Тирасполь), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnist ...

. His team became the champions in Moldovan National Division three times (2004/05–2006/07), was the

Moldavian Cup The Cupa Moldovei () officially known as the Moldtelecom Moldovan Cup ( ro, Cupa Moldovei Moldtelecom) is a football competition, held annually in Moldova. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round. Final ...

holder in 2006, and the

Moldovan Super Cup Moldovan Super Cup ( ro, Supercupa Moldovei) is the national football (soccer), football super cup competition in Moldova, officially having the winners of the previous season's Moldovan National Division and Moldovan Cup face-off against each oth ...

in 2005.

Karpaty Lviv

On 9 June 2008, Kononov was invited to take charge of Ukrainian Premier League club

Karpaty Lviv Football Club Karpaty Lviv ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Lviv. History Early years (1963–68) The team of Karpaty was founded on 18 January, 1963. In 1961 Silmash Lviv won the championship of Lviv Oblast but lost its p ...

following the resignation of

Valery Yaremchenko Valeriy Yaremchenko (born 15 August 1947) is a Ukrainian football manager and former player. Career He was born in the city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. As a player, he participated in 247 games as a member of Shakhtar scoring 24 goals. He coached ...

. He brought a new style of play to the team, including the use of a

4-3-3 formation In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

which emphasizes the flanks instead of the usual

4-4-2 formation In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

. At the end of the 2008-09 season, Karpaty finished in the season in middle of the league at 9th place. Kononov enjoyed more success the next season, guiding Karpaty to top 8 in the

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

where they were eliminated by eventual finalists

Metalurh Donetsk Football Club Metalurh Donetsk ( uk, Футбо́льний клуб «Металу́рг» Доне́цьк, ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Donetsk that went bankrupt in July 2015. History Club predecessor Football ...

. They also finished fifth in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and therefore qualified for the

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with ...

, where after impressively passing Galatasaray in the playoff round, finished last in Group J with 1 point.

Krasnodar

He took over the management of

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...

early in the

2013–14 Russian Premier League The 2013–14 Russian Premier League was the 22nd season of the Russian football championship since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and 12th under the current Russian Premier League name. The season started on 13 July 2013 and concluded on 17 ...

and led them to Europe for the first time in their history, finishing 5th in the league and qualifying for the

2014–15 UEFA Europa League The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2015 UEFA Europa League Final was ...

. In 2014-15 season they defeated, among others,

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

in the Europa League qualifiers and advanced to the group stage. They did not qualify for the knockout phase. Midway through the

2014–15 Russian Premier League The 2014–15 Russian Premier League was the 23rd season of the Russian football championship since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the 13th under the current Russian Premier League name. The season began on August 1, 2014, when Rubin Ka ...

competition, they reached the 2nd spot in the standings. He resigned from his Krasnodar position on 13 September 2016.

Arsenal Tula

He signed with FC Arsenal Tula on 1 June 2018.

Spartak Moscow

He left Arsenal by mutual consent on 12 November 2018 and signed with FC Spartak Moscow until the end of the 2018–19 season. on 29 September 2019, he resigned from Spartak following 4 consecutive losses in a league that were preceded by a failure to qualify for the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fina ...

group stage.

Riga FC

On 5 February 2020, he signed with the reigning Latvian champions Riga FC. The stint ended in late 2020.

Return to Arsenal Tula

On 10 June 2022, Kononov was hired once again by Arsenal Tula, freshly relegated to the second-tier Russian Football National League. On January 11, 2023, he left the post of head coach, having played 20 matches in the current season of the First League, in which FC Arsenal Tula won nine victories and drew five times.

Honours

;As coach ;;Sevastopol *

Ukrainian First League The Persha Liha ( uk, Перша ліга) or Ukrainian First League is a professional football league in Ukraine and the second tier of national football competitions pyramid. Members of the league also participate in the Ukrainian Cup. It is th ...

(1): 2012-13 ;;Krasnodar * Russian Football Premier League third place: 2014-15

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kononov, Oleg 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Kursk Soviet footballers Russian footballers Belarusian footballers Belarusian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Poland FC Dnepr Mogilev players FC Zorya Luhansk players FC Vitebsk players FC Lokomotiv Vitebsk (defunct) players Ruch Chorzów players FC Naftan Novopolotsk players FC Torpedo Minsk players FC Karpaty Lviv managers FC Sevastopol managers FC Spartak Moscow managers FC Krasnodar managers Ukrainian Premier League managers Russian Premier League managers Expatriate football managers in Ukraine Russian football managers Russian expatriate football managers Russian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Russian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Belarusian football managers Belarusian expatriate football managers Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova FC Akhmat Grozny managers FC Arsenal Tula managers Association football midfielders FC Iskra Smolensk players