The candid interview of Vladislav Shayakhmetov on the eve of the UEFA final four.

– Vladislav, Wikipedia reports that you started your career in big football in “Uralmash”, but because of financial problems in the club you went to futsal.
– Well, there were more football problems, than financial. We then played in the Second League, and there were no real progress, although I always wanted to play in my native club. I played quite successfully, I played on the position of the attacking midfielder. But the coincidence of circumstances, the distrust of the head coach to the young guys and always being on loan did their job. When I received an offer from Ravil Borisovich Aimalev (vice-president of “VIZ-Sinara” at that time) to try playing futsal, I doubted for a long time, I refused for a year and a half. For me, futsal was something far away. Once again my family helped me to make the right choice. At that time, with my future wife Aleksandra, we were just friends, but she saw my game on the large pitch in Ekaterinburg and in the pitch of my native Revda. It was Aleksandra who advised me to try to discover myself in futsal. After all, if something went wrong, it was always possible to return to big football. At that time, “Uralmash” didn’t need me, so I decided to go into futsal.

– At that time, was it a big problem to change big football to futsal? Today it is rather difficult to imagine such a transition. Futsal has developed a lot.
– Yes, the development of the sport was different then, but it was not a problem for me. I practically grew up on the pitch. I was lucky that it was always close to me. When I first started playing football (at the age of six), my father was the director of the Sports Palace at that time, and the pitch was always open to me. When there was free schedule in the pitch, after the kindergarten, I used to take the ball and was running around the site alone. Then I watched as my older brother trained and I ran along with his team. Coaches were perplexed, what was the boy running around there all the time. My brother was six years older than me and was my second dad for me, I tried to be just like him.

– Did he play somewhere?
– No, he chose the profession of an arbitrator and now works at the matches of the Russian Super League.
– In addition to a brother, did you look up at someone else as a child?
– Many players have influenced my gam: Mostovoy, Karpin, Van Basten, Maradona. Now I’d like to be the influence for young futsal players. I want to be a good example of a player and a person. Our generation must be strong, so that the next generation would be even stronger, who later will also be an example for someone. This raises the level of football.

– Do you have any individual requirements to the youth? It is clear that they all were born not in the USSR, but in modern Russia. And modern conditions force them to stand out, to be socially active, creative, memorable, bright.
– You will not prove anything to anyone besides futsal. Someone likes hanging out around the clubs – hang out as much as you want. But there is work, your favorite duty, which you do most of your life time. Of course, you can’t judge by yourself. But I always knew: there is time to work, there is time to rest. Everything must be approached correctly. Everyone builds his own destiny and thinks with his own head. Each player has three stages: the beginning, the middle and the sunset. Today I have already calmed down. Before, in general, I used to be a huge sports fan, not only a football fan. I followed everything. I spent less time with my family than with football. But with experience I have set up my priorities. Before we didn’t have the Internet, but we knew everything. It’s a matter of attitude. I never allowed myself to be late for training, to lose individuals, or to dodge the ball. And if I do it another way, it won’t be me. First of all, you can not lie to yourself. Falling can be faster than climbing. I will not allow myself to do this.

– What position do you follow on the pitch today?
– Previously, I played more in the attack, I was an attacker until I began to get serious injuries. They came to me at the age when the age-related decline begins. Not a skill decline, but an age one. You can not deceive age. After that, I began to play more universally, both in the attack and defense, covered a very large space. I could spend a lot of time on the pitch, so I spent and did not think about the future. Coaches used to warn me about that: “Vlad, do not need to overplay. We give you as much time as you need.” But I still wanted to fight, for me the result was above everything. I was constantly in the game, I was a fanatic, I was thinking not about my health, but about the victory. Because of this, the legs “wear out”, sometimes I had to play under injections, through the pain. In the end, all this resulted in serious injuries. They say, learn from your mistakes. Does not work. Now I’m a defensive player and try to make the team miss less. But I do not forget about the attack, I take a lot of risks. Football is a big risk. If you do not take risks, you can not achieve goals.

– We have already talked a bit about the parallels of big football and futsal. Recently I visited the offices of the Russian futsal association and the Russian football association and, judging by the rich history and captured trophies, we can safely say that the futsal players for a short period of time could “outdo” their older brother.
– Of course. The results speak for themselves. We used to be second-third in the European ranking. And now we came to the first place. We still don’t have such infrastructure as in big football, we are still moving towards it and I think we will achieve it soon. It is necessary to unite all clubs, people who love futsal. But if we continue the comparison, big football has a very low level of the game. If in Soviet times, in the nineties it was nice to watch, for example, Spartak and enjoy the game, now the level of Russian football is very low. On occasion, I support Moscow’s Spartak at the stadium, but I understand that football has changed for the worse, the quality of the game itself. Well, I’m watching the central match of our championship “Zenit” vs “CSKA”. Such a sign! El Clasico! Full stadium. But … one shot on target for the whole game … You know, next time I will not go to the stadium. Why should I go? In the theater, for example, I come and get a show, pleasure. Same thing should be in football.

– You occupy some selected position in the RFU. Tell more in detail.
– Yes, I have been a member of the United Footballers’ Union for about five years. We are engaged in the protection of players in the framework of existing professional contracts. We conclude agreements with them on a reimbursable basis and when problems arise in the club, we protect the interests of the player. This direction is not yet developed in futsal. Players are probably still afraid, and some have their own agents.

– Your position, maybe it is still just representative, is some kind of a foothold for further work at the associations after finishing your professional career?
– There is a desire to stay in futsal, of course, but for now I do not think about it, I want to play more. I want to help develop futsal. We will never reach the highest point, we learn all our life, and bring something new. Why does the Russian team achieve such success? Because we have a very strong domestic championship, not the first season. Any team in our championship can beat the leader. And it’s very cool! In Spain, once they had a competitive championship and that’s why they had the best national team. Now the situation there is pretty different.

– Since we touched upon Spain – a fresh example of the famous goalkeeper Luis Amado, who after his career kept working for the image of the club “Inter Movistar.” Are you looking for something like that in the future?
– Of course, with my experience I would like to stay in futsal and continue working in another field, helping football players with my authority, experience, advice. It is important to treat futsal correctly. For me, these are not empty words. I want the current generation of players to be more successful than ours. We did not win the European and World Championships. I want to be sure that I’ll sit by the TV in the evening and see how our team wins a big trophy.

– What do you think, has interest towards futsal in Russia increased after the silver medals at the World Cup?
– Of course! Our performance caused great excitement. They started talking about us, inviting us to federal channels. For example, my friends watched matches and supported me, told my friends about it, so it was like a chain formed. After all, futsal is very entertaining, an interesting sport. It is very interesting to watch, not to mention watching the match live.

– The secret of success from Vladislav Shayakhmetov.
– First of all, a great desire. It is important to work every day, to perfect your skills, not to be lazy, to stay a team member, to feel the shoulder of your friend on the pitch. Character is important. You can not just be a number. I have met a lot of players in the course of my career without some bright talent, but due to hard work and desire they grew into high-class futsal players.

Author: Alex Malkov,
Source: https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/fiveversusfive/1254631.html