Pyotr Pyatrovich Kachura ( be, Пётр Качура, russian: Петр Качуро, ''Petr Kachuro''; born 2 August 1972) is a Belarusian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a forward. Starting off with his home town club Dynamo Minsk he went on to have spells at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in England and

Chengdu Wuniu Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. () was a Chinese professional football club based in Chengdu, China who last played in the 26,000 seater Shuangliu Sports Center in the China League One division. The club was founded on 26 February 1996 and was formerly kn ...

in China before returning to his homeland, playing for Minsk for a second spell and later for Sokol Saratov. Following his retirement he went on to have a spell as manager at Dinamo Minsk in 2006–07. Internationally, he made 29 appearances, scoring five goals for the Belarus national team. During his time in England he used an Anglicised version of his name and was referred to as Petr or Peter Katchouro.

Club career

Kachura started his playing career at his hometown club

FC Dinamo Minsk FC Dinamo Minsk ( be, ФК Дынама Мінск, ''FK Dynama Minsk''; russian: link=no, ФК Динамо Минск) is a professional football club based in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk. It was founded in 1927 as part of the Sovi ...

, the most successful team in Belarus having won the Belarusian Premier League a record seven times since it began in 1992. Kachura was part of the side which won the Belarusian Premier League in 1995. In July 1996,

signed Kachura for £650,000. He scored 14 goals in his first season as the Blades finished in fifth place in

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

and qualified for the

Playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

. However, the Blades lost 1–0 to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in the final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, with a last minute

David Hopkin David Isaac Hopkin (born 21 August 1970) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who was most recently the manager of Ayr United. As a player he was a midfielder from 1989 until 2003, notably in the English Premier League ...

goal shattering United's promotion dream. Kachura was awarded for his performances by being given the 1996–97 player of the season award at Bramall Lane. The following season he made just 16 appearances, due to injuries, as the Blades qualified for the playoffs once again by finishing in sixth place. This time they lost in the semi-finals, with Sunderland defeating the Blades 3–2 on aggregate, after the Blades had held a 2–1 lead going into the second leg. Kachura failed to score that season, but made amends in the next season, as he scored six goals in 16 appearances as the Blades failed to qualify for the playoffs by finishing in a disappointing eighth place, nine points from the playoffs. Kachura missed a large part of the season due to a

punctured lung A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve ...

injury in the 4–0 home defeat to Sunderland. His final season in England saw him score three goals in 30 appearances as the Blades woeful start condemned them to a 16th-place finish, as Neil Warnock replaced

Adrian Heath Adrian Paul Heath (born 11 January 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He currently serves as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United FC. As a player, he is best known for his six seasons at Everton, where h ...

as manager in early December and rescued the Blades from relegation. In March 2000 Kachura was transferred to Chinese side

on a free transfer. He stayed there for one season before re-joining his hometown club Dinamo Minsk in August 2000.

International career

Kachura made his debut for the Belarus national team on 25 May 1994, in a 3–1 loss against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in a friendly.

Coaching career

After Kachura retired from playing, Kachura became a football coach. His former club,

, appointed him in November 2006, but replaced him after the first match of the

2007 Belarusian Premier League The 2007 Belarusian Premier League was the 17th season of top-tier football in Belarus. It started on April 14 and ended on November 10, 2007. BATE Borisov were the defending champions. Team changes from 2006 season Lokomotiv Minsk and Belshi ...

season.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Belarus' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kachura goal.''

Honours

Dinamo Minsk * Belarusian Premier League: 1993–94, 1994–95,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Belarusian Cup The Belarusian Cup () is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs in Belarus. The tournament is organized by the Football Federation of Belarus. Belarusian Cup was established in 1992. Each year the winnin ...

: 1993–94 Individual *Belarusian Premier League top scorer: 1993–94 *

Sheffield United F.C. Player of the Year The Sheffield United F.C. Player of the Year is an annual award presented to players of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United on behalf of the club's fans to recognise an outstanding contribution to the previous season. First presented in 1967 ...

: 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachura, Pyotr 1972 births Living people People from Orsha Soviet footballers Belarusian footballers Belarusian expatriate footballers Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in China Belarusian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Belarus international footballers Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Russia FC Dinamo Minsk players FC Dinamo-93 Minsk players Sheffield United F.C. players Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. players FC Sokol Saratov players Soviet Top League players Belarusian Premier League players Russian Premier League players Belarusian football managers Belarusian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Tajikistan FC Dinamo Minsk managers FC Neman Grodno managers FC Lida managers Association football forwards Sportspeople from Vitebsk Region