Talalaev Andrey Viktorovich (born October 5, 1972) is a Russian footballer and football coach. As a player he was a forward in clubs of the USSR and Russian top divisions, including one match for Nizhny Novgorod's Lokomotiv in 1999. Since 2011 he has worked as head coach of Premier League and First League clubs; since 2024 he has led Baltika (Kaliningrad).[1]
Playing career
Height: 184 cm; weight: 79 kg. He played as a forward. He began his career at Moscow's Torpedo, for which he made 55 appearances and scored 8 goals in the top division in 1991–1994.[2] In 1994 he played for KamAZ (Naberezhnye Chelny). In 1995 he returned to Torpedo. In 1996, playing for Dynamo-Gazovik (Tyumen), he won the First League, scoring 13 goals in 34 matches.[1] In 1997 he played for Tyumen in the top division and for Tom (Tomsk) in the Second League.[2] In the 1997/98 and 1998/99 seasons he played in Italy's Serie B for Treviso.[2] In 1999 he played 10 matches and scored one goal for Tom in the First League.[3]
His achievements as a player include a bronze medal at the 1991 USSR Championship, the 1992/93 Russian Cup, and the 1997 Second League title (East zone); he holds the title of Master of Sport.[1]
Nizhny Novgorod period
In 1999 Talalaev played one match in the top division for Nizhny Novgorod's Lokomotiv.[3][2] According to the club's website, in an interview from that time he spoke about returning from Italy to Russia and about how he himself called the Nizhny Novgorod coach Ovchinnikov.[2]
Coaching career
After finishing his playing career, Talalaev moved into coaching. From 1999 to 2003 he worked as a coach at the Torpedo-Metallurg youth sports school (Moscow), and in 2004 as a coach at Spartak (Moscow). From 2005 to 2010 he led Russia's youth national teams (U15, U19, U20), and in 2011 the youth (under-21) national team.[1]
In 2011 he was appointed head coach of Rostov, first as head coach of the youth squad and then as acting head coach of the first team. In 2012–2013 he worked as a coach at Kuban (Krasnodar).[1]
In 2013–2016 he led Nizhny Novgorod's Volga: from December 2013 he managed the team in eight Premier League matches (1 win, 7 losses), after which the club was relegated to the First League, where under Talalaev it played two full seasons — 2014/15 (13th place) and 2015/16 (10th place).[3]
In 2016–2018 he coached Tambov, twice finishing in the top five of the First League. In 2018–2019 he led Armenia's Pyunik (Yerevan), taking them through Europa League qualifying, and was named Armenia's "Coach of the Year" in 2018.[1]
In 2019–2020 he led Khimki, taking them to the final of the 2019/20 Russian Cup and to second place in the First League. In the middle of the 2019/20 season he briefly took over Krylia Sovetov (six Premier League matches). From 2020 to 2022 he coached Akhmat (Grozny) in the Premier League. In 2022–2023 he led Torpedo (Moscow).[3]
In the 2023/24 season he returned to Khimki and won the First League with the club, securing promotion to the Premier League. Since 2024 he has been head coach of Baltika (Kaliningrad); in the 2024/25 season he again took first place in the First League.[1][3]
Sources
- ootf.ru — Talalaev Andrey Viktorovich — OOTF coach
- loko.nnov.ru — Andrey TALALAEV
- news.sportbox.ru — Talalaev Andrey Viktorovich — Head Coach — Baltika — Andrey Talalaev