Leonid Viktorovich Slutsky (russian: Леонид Викторович Слуцкий ; born 4 May 1971) is a Russian professional
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 has managed
Olimpia Volgograd,
Uralan Elista,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Krylia Sovetov,
CSKA Moscow,
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 ...
,
Hull City,
Vitesse and
Rubin Kazan.
Playing career
Slutsky, who is Jewish, saw his professional playing career ended aged 19, after he injured his knee falling from a tree while saving a cat.
Coaching career
Early career
Slutsky became head coach of
FC Moscow on 14 July 2005
until the end of the 2007 season.
His final match as head coach of Moscow was a 3–1 win against
Luch-Energiya Vladivostok on 11 November 2007.
Slutsky became head coach of
Krylia Sovetov on 1 January 2008.
CSKA Moscow
On 26 October 2009
he replaced
Juande Ramos
Juan de la Cruz "Juande" Ramos Cano (born 25 September 1954) is a Spanish former footballer and manager.
After playing and managing at an amateur level, Ramos led Rayo Vallecano to promotion to La Liga, followed by reaching the quarter-finals o ...
to become the head coach of
CSKA Moscow.
In December 2009, under Slutsky, CSKA reached the
knock-out stage
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking ...
of the
Champions League for the first time in the club's history, before being knocked out by
José Mourinho
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...
's
Inter Milan
Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...
, the eventual champions, in the quarter-finals.
Two years later, the achievement was repeated, when CSKA defeated Inter Milan at the
San Siro
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...
in the last game of the group stage.
Towards the 2012–13 season, Slutsky strengthened the team defense and re-organized the attack, which helped the team set a record of 15 games without being scored against, and to win all the games where the team scored first, resulting in a title.
On 7 August 2015, it was announced that Slutsky would take over the
Russian national football team in place of the outgoing
Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player.
As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career which ...
.
The contract was until the end of
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying.
Slutsky won all of his qualifying games and got Russia into
UEFA Euro 2016
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...
.
On 14 November 2015, Russia beat Portugal 1–0 in a friendly game and Slutsky repeated
Pavel Sadyrin
Pavel Fyodorovich Sadyrin (russian: Павел Фёдорович Садырин; 18 September 1942 – 1 December 2001) was a Soviet and Russian footballer and manager.
Career
Sadyrin played as a midfielder for Zvezda Perm and Zenit Leningra ...
's achievement of winning his five first games as the head coach of Russia.
On 21 May 2016, CSKA beat Rubin Kazan 1–0 to secure the title ahead of surprise challengers Rostov. This gave Slutsky his third title in four years with the Moscow club.
On 20 June 2016, Slutsky decided to resign from being the coach of the Russian team after a 0–3 loss to
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, which meant Russia finished bottom of their
Euro 2016
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...
group.
He resigned on 25 June.
On 6 December 2016, Slutsky announced his resignation as CSKA manager. His last game was a Champions League group stage match against
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
the following day.
Later career
On 9 June 2017, Slutsky was appointed manager of
EFL Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...
club
Hull City.
On 3 December 2017, he left the club by mutual consent after a run of bad results.
On 12 March 2018, it was announced that he would replace
Henk Fraser
Hendrikus "Henk" Fraser (born 7 July 1966) is a Dutch football coach and former player who most recently managed Eredivisie side FC Utrecht.
He played as a defender for various Dutch teams. Born in Suriname, he earned seven caps for the Nether ...
as the new manager of
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
side
Vitesse Arnhem
Vitesse may refer to:
* Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company
* Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band
* Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car
* Rover 216 Vitesse, a car
* Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car
* Rover 800 Vitesse, a car
* Triumph Vites ...
, for the start of the 2018–19 season. Under his tenure, Vitesse entered the draw for the third qualifying round of the
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
, being drawn against seeded
FC Basel
Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...
. The two legs were played at home on 9 August and away on 16 August 2018. Vitesse lost 2–0 on aggregate, resulting in their elimination from the Europa League. At the domestic level, Vitesse finished fifth in the
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
that season. After five lost games in a row, he decided to quit with his job as manager from
Vitesse Arnhem
Vitesse may refer to:
* Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company
* Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band
* Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car
* Rover 216 Vitesse, a car
* Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car
* Rover 800 Vitesse, a car
* Triumph Vites ...
at the end of November 2019.
On 19 December 2019, he signed a 5-year contract with
Russian Premier League club
FC Rubin Kazan. In his second season with Rubin, he led the club to 4th place in the
2020–21 Russian Premier League
The 2020–21 Russian Premier League(known as the Tinkoff Russian Premier League, also written as Tinkoff Russian Premier Liga for sponsorship reasons)was the 29th season of the premier football competition in Russia since the dissolution of ...
, securing UEFA competition qualification for the first time since the 2015–16 season. The next season was far worse, as on the last match day, Rubin lost 2–1 to
FC Ufa and finished 15th which confirmed their relegation to the second tier. Slutsky resigned from Rubin on 15 November 2022, with the club in fourth place in the second-tier
Russian First League and 4 points behind the first place.
TV commenting career
Slutsky has commented on football games many times on Russian TV. His commentating career was disrupted after he repeated the word "Navalny" following his co-commentator's using the term ''навальный футбол (navalny futbol)''; the term ''навальный (navalny)'' is a term best translated as "overwhelming" or "storming", but is also the surname of opposition politician
Alexei Navalny
Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, Russian opposition ...
. The incident led to his sacking from the TV pundit role at the
2018 FIFA World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...
.
Coaching statistics
Honours
;CSKA Moscow
*
Russian Premier League (3):
2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
,
2013–14,
2015–16
*
Russian Cup (2):
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
,
2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
*
Russian Super Cup (2):
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
,
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slutsky, Leonid
1971 births
Living people
Soviet footballers
Russian Jews
Jewish footballers
Jewish Russian sportspeople
Russian football managers
FC Elista managers
FC Moscow managers
PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara managers
Russian Premier League managers
PFC CSKA Moscow managers
Russia national football team managers
UEFA Euro 2016 managers
Russian expatriate football managers
Expatriate football managers in England
Hull City A.F.C. managers
Russian expatriate sportspeople in England
Association football goalkeepers
SBV Vitesse managers
Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands
Russian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands
FC Rubin Kazan managers