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

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n football 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 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

Player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

. Playing at KIM Vitebsk, he became the runner-up of the Belarusian Premier League.

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 Transnis ...

. His team became the champions in

Moldovan National Division The Moldovan Super Liga is an association football league that is currently the top division of Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when the country became independent from the Soviet Union. It was formed in ...

three times (2004/05–2006/07), was the Moldavian Cup holder in 2006, and the

Moldovan Super Cup Moldovan Super Cup ( ro, Supercupa Moldovei) is the national 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 other. In case when t ...

in 2005.

Karpaty Lviv

On 9 June 2008, Kononov was invited to take charge of

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League' ...

club Karpaty Lviv following the resignation of Valery Yaremchenko. He brought a new style of play to the team, including the use of a 4-3-3 formation 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 association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began ...

, where after impressively passing

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

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 R ...

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 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 K ...

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 FC Arsenal Tula (russian: ФК Арсенал Тула) is a Russian professional football club from Tula playing in the second-tier Russian First League. Originally founded in 1923, FC Arsenal Tula was promoted to the Russian Premier League i ...

on 1 June 2018.

Spartak Moscow

He left Arsenal by mutual consent on 12 November 2018 and signed with

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, Futbolʹnyy klub «Spartak» Moskva, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dyn ...

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 fin ...

group stage.

Riga FC

On 5 February 2020, he signed with the reigning Latvian champions

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 the club has been playing in the Virslīga. History The club was officially registered ...

. 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 The Russian First League (russian: Первая лига, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division (russian: Первый дивизион) and Russian Football National League (FNL) (russian: Первенство Футбольн� ...

. 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

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 t ...

(1):

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 ...

;;Krasnodar *

Russian Football Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

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