Filatov Valery Nikolaevich - footballer and Honored Coach of the Russian Federation. Master of Sport. Former president of the Moscow club Lokomotiv. Champion of the USSR in 1976. This article will describe his brief biography.
Childhood and study
November 18, 1950 - this is the date when Valery Filatov was born. From an early age, football became the boy's main hobby. He spent many hours a day on the field. But Valery did not neglect the lessons, so his grades at school were high. Together with a friend Vitaly Starukhin Filatov decided to enroll in the children's team “Belarus”. They took Valery, but his friend didn’t. After leaving school, the young man was invited to play in the second league, but his parents insisted on getting a higher education.
As a student at the Pedagogical Institute, Filatov began to play for the team from Maykop. He perfectly managed to combine sport and study. But there was not enough time for other matters. Especially on the eve of the exams. Valery himself considered himself a versatile person. The future footballer was very fond of the theater and did not miss a single good performance. Also, the athlete was fond of reading. In his youth, his favorite authors were O'Henry and Jack London.
Carier start
Valery Filatov played his debut match as a member of the Trud team (Volkovysk) at the age of nineteen. The young man’s entry into this team was directly related to his studies at the Polytechnic Institute. Thanks to his football talents, Valery not only gained a foothold in the team, but also received a substantial increase in scholarships. At that time, for an unemployed guy, this was a great success. Basically, Filatov was in the midfield, but occasionally the footballer visited other parts of the field. The Belarusian “Labor” was not the only team Valery played for. On his way, he met a couple of “near-professional” teams - FC Enbek (Dzhezkazgan) and FC Druzhba (Maykop). The game for the Kazakhstan club was a failure. And it was not even Filatov’s football skills. He just didn’t like life in the outback, and the young man decided to move to Maykop.
New perspectives
Soon Valery Filatov joined the army. In parallel, the athlete played for Rostov FC SKA. Of course, you could not call it career growth, since the club was considered problematic. Many representatives of the older generation remember that wonderful team very well. But when Filatov just replenished her ranks, there was no question of a struggle for prizes in the championship. The recession continued even after Valery got into the squad. In 1973, FC SKA left the Premier League. The young man was not very upset, because he received an offer from another team. It was the Moscow FC Torpedo. Moreover, Filatov was invited to other groups. For example, the leadership of St. Petersburg "Zenith" promised to give the player an apartment. But in his decision Valery was guided exclusively by sports moments. Firstly, the midfielder really liked the team of Valentin Ivanov. And secondly, it included his football idol Valery Voronin, who played for the “car factory” for eleven years.
"Torpedo"
Two years after signing the contract with the team, the hero of this article became the champion of the USSR championship (autumn rally). At that time, the system was fundamentally different from the current one. The domestic championship consisted of two periods: spring and autumn. In total, Valery Filatov played five seasons for Torpedo, taking part in 137 matches.
A great success for both the team and the player himself was the performance at the UEFA Cup. Valery dreamed of visiting Italy from childhood. Filatov got this desire after watching paintings from Adriano Celentano. Therefore, when a young man found out about a meeting with FC Napoli, his happiness knew no bounds. Soon his childhood dream was to come true. When Valery arrived in Naples, then his eyes simply “ran up”. He wanted to go everywhere and try everything. The match “Napoli” - “Torpedo” ended in a draw, which allowed “black and white” to get into the next round. The author of the only goal was the hero of this article.
Retirement
Valery Filatov became a champion not only as part of FC Torpedo. In 1980, the athlete joined the team of the eternal rival of the former club. Not having played two games for Spartak, he received the silver medal of the USSR Championship. As part of the team, the athlete appeared only in the 16th round. It was a game with CSKA. And then a situation occurred that became the reason why Filatov Valery ended his career. The player was in a car accident, injured in the cervical vertebrae. After that, there was no question of any football.
Separately, it should be said about the international performances of the athlete. For the USSR, he held only a couple of official meetings. Filatov played for the Olympic team, preparing for the games in Montreal. As a result, the team took third place in the competition, but without the support of the attacking midfielder Torpedo.
And so the fleeting career of Valery ended. But football has ceased to be just a game for Filatov. He firmly entered his life. Therefore, the former athlete switched to coaching.
Return to the camp "car factory"
The first team Filatov-mentor was “Torpedo”. Coaching there was a pleasure, because this team was native to Valery. The former footballer worked there from 1982 to 1986, showing himself exclusively from the best side. Of course, Filatov did not set ambitious goals for winning the championship. Nevertheless, he still managed to create a very competitive team. However, the quarrel between Valery Nikolaevich and Valentin Ivanov became an unpleasant and turning point. As a result, Filatov was fired.
Change of activity
After breaking up with Torpedo, the hero of this article tried to master a completely different direction. Valery Nikolaevich had a lot of time, which he decided to spend on opening a workshop for the production of "Bird's milk" and the production of caps for the "Lada" of the sixth model. But thoughts of Filatov constantly returned to football. Everything was changed by the meeting of Valery Nikolaevich with an old friend Yuri Semin. He persuaded him to quit the business and do what he liked. The former entrepreneur considered different teams as a new place of work (including even the Russian national football team). Filatov Valery eventually settled on Lokomotiv, where he became an assistant to the head coach. During his arrival, the team just returned to the top division, having played seven seasons in the First League.
The victories of Lokomotiv were entirely due to the duet Filatov-Semin. The team in a very short time regained its previous status and reached the final of the USSR Cup. Unfortunately, there Lokomotiv lost Dynamo with a crushing score (1: 6). And the people of Kiev have already won their ninth similar title. A year later, Semin continued his own career abroad, leaving for New Zealand, and the team was headed by Filatov. But as the main mentor, Valery Nikolaevich was not able to achieve any significant success. The rest of the time under his leadership, the team played just awful.
Another coach would give up, but Filatov came to the rescue of his natural optimism. With a little thought, he decided to combine sport with his own talent in a commercial direction. As a result, Valery Nikolaevich took the position of President of FC Lokomotiv. Later, Filatov admitted in an interview that he was not ready for coaching: “To show good results, you must first go through a good school.”
New stage
There are not many great football players in the world who eventually became successful leaders. But one of these was definitely Valery Filatov. “Lokomotiv” thanks to his efforts has been completely updated. The former businessman breathed new life into the club, having built a huge stadium with the latest infrastructure. It was Valery Nikolaevich who was able to restore order inside Lokomotiv FC. After all, everyone has long known that there are many talented players, but they can be taught even more if you create better conditions and approach the matter wisely.
