Valery Kuzmich Nepomnyashchy (russian: Валерий Кузьмич Непомнящий; born 7 August 1943) is a Russian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

manager and a former player. He is currently in charge of youth development with

Baltika Kaliningrad FC Baltika is an association football club based in Kaliningrad, Russia. Currently the club plays in the Russian First League, the second tier of the Russian football pyramid. History The club was founded on 22 December 1954 as ''Pishchevik Kalin ...

. Most famously he coached the

Cameroon national football team The Cameroon national football team ( French: ''équipe du Cameroun de football''), also known as the Indomitable Lions (French: ''les lions indomptables''), represents Cameroon in men's international football. It is controlled by the Fédéra ...

when they surprisingly made the quarter-finals in the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

. From 1992 to 1994 he coached clubs in Turkey. In 1995, he became manager of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Yukong Elephants Jeju United Football Club (Hangul: 제주 유나이티드) is a South Korean professional Association football, football club based in Jeju Province that competes in the K League 1, the top division in South Korea. In the past, the club has bee ...

(currently

Jeju United FC Jeju United Football Club (Hangul: 제주 유나이티드) is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeju Province that competes in the K League 1, the top division in South Korea. In the past, the club has been known as the ''Yuko ...

), and in 1996 led them to a victory in

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. In 2001, he took over the job of

J. League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most succe ...

club

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the coun ...

manager from

Eddie Thomson Eddie Thomson (25 February 1947 – 21 February 2003) was a Scottish association football player and coach, who played as a defender. He played for Heart of Midlothian and Aberdeen in Scotland, San Antonio Thunder in the United States and ...

. He has also coached

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in ...

, (whom he led to a second-place finish for the first time in his career), from 2004 to 2005, and the

Uzbekistan national football team The Uzbekistan national football team ( uz, Ozbekiston milliy futbol terma jamoasi, italic=yes / ) represents Uzbekistan in international football and is controlled by the Uzbekistan Football Association, the governing body for football in Uzbe ...

in 2006. He worked as a football commentator for a Russian television channel, “NTV-Plus”. In September 2008 he signed a 2-year contract with Russian club

Tom Tomsk FC Tom Tomsk (russian: Футбольный клуб Томь Томск) is a Russian professional football club, based in the Siberian city of Tomsk. The team plays in Trud Stadium (Tomsk). History The team was previously named ''Burevestnik'' ...

Early life

Nepomnyashchy was born in

Altai Krai Altai Krai (russian: Алта́йский край, r=Altaysky kray, p=ɐlˈtajskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai). It borders clockwise from the west, Kazakhstan (East Kazakhstan Region and Pavlodar ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. His mother, pregnant with him, was evacuated there from

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 ...

, after his father was killed during the war. In 1947, they moved to the

Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (, ; russian: Туркменская Советская Социалистическая Республика, ''Turkmenskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika''), also commonly known as Turkmenistan o ...

, nowadays

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

, where he would start his youth career. Graduated from the

Turkmen State University Turkmen State University named for Magtymguly ( tk, Magtymguly adyndaky Türkmen döwlet uniwersiteti) is one of the leading universities in Turkmenistan, located in the capital city Ashgabat. It is named after Magtymguly Pyragy, a Turkmen poet. ...

in 1969.

Career

Nepomnyashchy would start his career as a footballer where his greatest achievement was to play as a striker for third tier Soviet football club Spartak Samarkand. His career was however cut short due to health problems and he had to retire at the age of 25 years. This saw him move into physical education and coaching that would see him land a job within the football coaching sports committee of Turkmenistan from 1970 to 1978. By 1979 he would achieve his first assistant coaching job with third tier Turkmen football club Kolhozchi Ashkhabad and by 1982 he was named as their head coach where he led them to eighth in his debut season. By the end of 1983 Nepomnyashchy had returned to the Turkmenistan Sports committee until in 1984 when he was doing training courses in Moscow, he was asked by the Russian Office of football if he wanted to work abroad. Nepomnyashchy soon accepted the offer and was expected to provide training courses and assistance to developing countries such as Algeria, Tunisia and Suriname. Nepomnyashchy would find these trips as too frustrating and periodical in there planning until

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

offered him a concrete proposal. Initially Nepomnyashchy thought that the Russian funded aid would see him coach one of the Cameroon youth teams, however with the previous manager

Claude Le Roy Claude Le Roy (born 6 February 1948) is a French football manager and former player, who gained prominence at international level as coach to the Senegal and Ghana national teams. He was most recently the manager of the Togo national team. Ma ...

deciding to leave to join

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

there was an unexpected vacancy for the senior Head coach position, which Nepomnyashchy took and signed a two-year contract with the team. At first Nepomnyashchy would struggle with the French language and had to use an interpreter, however he would eventually get his message across on what he wanted his team to do and they would qualify for the

. Drawn in Group B they unexpectedly beat reigning champions

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

as well as

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

to book their place within the last 16. After beating

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

2-1 in extra-time Cameroon eventually lost to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the Quarter-Finals. While he was offered an extension to his contract, Nepomnyashchy decided to leave the team after his contract expired to take on a more lucrative position with the

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams and administers the country's ...

as a technical consultant. In the 1992–93 1.Lig season Nepomnyashchy would return to management with Turkish side Gençlerbirliği S.K. before joining another Turkish side in Ankaragücü the following season. After an uninspired time within Turkey he would move to South Korea where he had a successful spell with Bucheon Yukong where he won the

1996 Korean League Cup The 1996 Korean League Cup, also known as the Adidas Cup 1996, was the sixth competition of the Korean League Cup. Table Matches ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ...

with them. After his time in South Korea ended he returned to Russia for

FC Dynamo Stavropol PFC Dynamo Stavropol (russian: link=no, «Динамо» (Ставрополь)) is an association football club from Stavropol, south Russia, best known for winning the 1949 RSFSR championship in one of the 9 zones. In recent years it played m ...

where he acted as a consultant in 1999 before returning to Asia where he went on to manage several different clubs before returning to national team management when he coached

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

after having a spell with one of its clubs, Pakhtakor FK where he won the 2006 league title with them.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a manager

Yukong Elephants / Bucheon SK *

Korean League Cup The Korean League Cup was a professional football competition in South Korean football. It was held by the K League Federation from 1986 to 2012. Sponsorship Champions List of finals Titles by club K League's principle of official stati ...

Winner: 1996 Pakhtakor FK * Champion of

Uzbek League Uzbekistan Super League ( uz, O'zbekiston Superligasi), also called Coca-Cola Uzbekistan Super League due to sponsorship reasons ( uz, Coca-Cola O'zbekiston Superligasi / Coca-Cola Ўзбекистон Суперлигаси), is the top division ...

: 2006 * Cup holder in

Uzbekistan Cup The O‘zbekiston Kubogi or ( uz, O‘zbekiston Kubogi, script=Latn or ) Uzbek Cup is the top knockout tournament in Uzbek football (soccer). Previous champions All champions as Uzbek SSR in Soviet times: *1939: Dinamo Tashkent *1940: Dinamo T ...

: 2006

Individual

* Honored coach of the Turkmen SSR (1990) * Legion of Honor (Cameroon, 1990) * Award for "Contribution to the development of the South Korean Football" (1996) * Best Coach of the Year in China (2000) * The badge "For Services to the Tomsk region" (2010)

References

External links

Profile on footballplayers.ru
*
Valery Nepomnyashchy Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nepomnyashchy, Valery 1943 births Turkmen State University alumni Association football forwards Living people People from Slavgorod Soviet football managers Soviet expatriate football managers Russian football managers Russian expatriate football managers FK Köpetdag Aşgabat managers 1990 FIFA World Cup managers Cameroon national football team managers Uzbekistan national football team managers J1 League managers Sanfrecce Hiroshima managers Expatriate football managers in Japan Shandong Taishan F.C. managers Jeju United FC managers Russian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Russian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Russian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Russian expatriate sportspeople in China Russian expatriate sportspeople in Uzbekistan Expatriate football managers in Cameroon Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Cameroon Expatriate football managers in South Korea Expatriate football managers in China Guangzhou City F.C. managers Gençlerbirliği S.K. managers MKE Ankaragücü managers Expatriate football managers in Turkey Expatriate football managers in Uzbekistan Pakhtakor Tashkent FK managers FC Tom Tomsk managers Russian Premier League managers Higher School of Coaches alumni FK Dinamo Samarqand players 1990 African Cup of Nations managers FC Baltika Kaliningrad managers Soviet footballers Turkmenistan footballers Turkmenistan football managers Russian football chairmen and investors Chinese Super League managers