Yuri Kovtun for his sports biography managed to play in teams of different divisions. He started his football career back in the Soviet Union. In the 90s, he moved from one team to another more than once. Aggressive and assertive footballer is the recognized record holder in the country for the number of warnings. After becoming a coach, Kovtun tries to convey his style of play and understanding of the tactics of a football match to young footballers.
Yuri Mikhailovich Kovtun: facts from the biography
The future Russian footballer and coach was born in Azov (Rostov Region) on January 5, 1970. Yura began to play football at the school of the Olympic reserve in his hometown under the leadership of P. Kotelnikov. The player began his football career in 1988 at the local club "Luch".
A year later, Kovtun moved to the Rostov SKA, then began to play for Rostselmash. In 1992, Yuri helped his team to take its rightful place in the first Russian championship. The season turned out to be successful for the footballer: the coaches of Spartak and Dynamo drew attention to Kovtun.
Sports career of Yuri Kovtun
In 1993, Yuri began playing for Dynamo and for a number of years was one of the leading players of the famous team. In 1999, Kovtun joined Spartak. An experienced player also joined this team pretty quickly. In 2006, Yuri, by agreement with the management of the capital "Spartak", moved to "Spartak" Vladikavkaz, becoming the team captain. In May next year, the contract was terminated by mutual agreement of the club's management and the player.
Kovtun's track record contains a number of undoubted "anti-records": by 2007, the player managed to receive 10 red and 97 yellow cards. In total, during his sports biography, Kovtun received almost one and a half hundred warnings and was sent off the field more than ten times.
More than fifty matches Yuri played for the national team of the country. However, he managed to score into the opponent's goal only twice at these meetings. There was one own goal in the history of his games for the national team: this happened in 1998 in a match with Icelandic players.
Kovtun took part in the 1996 European Championships and 2002 World Championships.
Coaching work
In mid-2007, Kovtun became the head coach of the Russian Interior Ministry football club. In August of the same year, the sports team took the honorable 4th place in the World Championship, which was held in Prague among police units.
In 2010, Kovtun briefly occupied the position of the second coach of the Salyut team. Since August 2015, Yuri Mikhailovich has been appointed head coach of the Tosno club. The contract was terminated in June 2016. From 2016 to 2017, Kovtun was coaching in the capital's club "Dynamo".
Yuri Kovtun about himself
The football player and coach is reluctant to talk about his personal life. Speaking about his style of play, Kovtun emphasizes that he has always entered the field with a winning mindset. You need to play with full dedication in any match. Only in this case will the player be satisfied with the game - even if his team is defeated. Yuri never tried to look for excuses for the fact that this or that game did not work out for him.
Yuri Mikhailovich still has little free time. But if an hour or two appears, he is not averse to playing billiards. He tries to hit the ball so that it flies into the corner. And in football his favorite shot is the nine. And the best thing in the old days was head bangs.
Among other sports games, Kovtun prefers tennis and basketball. In these forms, he is attracted by the sharp intensity of the struggle and the ability to demonstrate creativity in the attack.
