In the new season, our team has a new defender, Rishat Kotlyarov, he’s our new nine. Rishat made his debut for “Gazprom-UGRA” in the match for the Super Cup of Russia, and in the first phase he scored his debut goal against “Dina”.

We offer you to learn more about who this Rishat Kotlyarov is:

– I started playing soccer at 12, which is quite late for an athlete. I started it in soccer in my hometown Zheleznodorozhniy near Moscow, at a local team. A year later I passed to the Moscow Youth team “Perovets”, spent there about 3-4 years. After I tried to start playing more professionally, but had no success. And it was at that moment when I decided to try myself at futsal, I had a chance to play in the FC “Dynamo”, to where I was invited by Konstantin Viktorovich Eremenko. I was still very young and didn’t play much, still I trained with such well-known players as Joan, Cirilo. Then I spent a few seasons on loan at “Mytishchi” and four seasons at CSKA. Having gained some experience, I joined “Sibiryak”, won two bronze medals with them and passed to “KPRF”.

– Can you say now that you like futsal more than soccer?
– Probably, yes, I can say that. Initially, when you start to deal with soccer, you want to stay in it, since it is more developed and more popular. But when I started to learn more about futsal, when I felt it, it became more interesting to me, it’s more dynamic.

– Tell us how are felling about your team’s defeat?
– It is difficult to get rid of these thoughts during the day. All the time I’ve been analyzing my mistakes, thinking what I could’ve done and what could have not, everything has been just stuck in my head. But then I try to forget quickly the bad moments, because nothing good will happen if you will constantly think about the negative.

– Did you have an idol as a child?
– From soccer it was Ronaldo and Zidane. More Zidane, I liked how he thought on the field, he is not very fast but very technical.

– What other hobbies do you have besides futsal?
– Nothing special, only music and movie theaters.

ABOUT FAMILY

– I can not help asking about your personal life. Can you tell us how did you meet your spouse?
– Through a friend of my sister, apparently she liked me as a person, and she decided to introduce me to her friend, my wife. So this is how it happened, I immediately fell for her, we began to hang out and we are still together, we will celebrate 11 years’ anniversary in September. When we met, I was 19 years old, and now we have a child, he is already four and half years old.

– Talking about children. Would you like your son to follow your steps?
– Honestly, I would like him to play hockey. I think hockey is a well-developed sport in our country. I myself do not like to play it, but I like the atmosphere, like the way people relate to the sport, always full stands. Still, my son should make his choice himself. If he doesn’t like hockey, then we will try playing a ball.

– How does your wife react to the rhythm of your life? To these constant trainings and travelings?
– She’s used to it already. Of course, training camp is such a thing when you’re don’t see your fam for a long time. At first it was hard. But on the other hand, maybe it’s good, since you come home and you figure out how hard it is without each other, you appreciate every moment spent together.

– Are your wife and son your top fans?
– Yes, my son, wife and also my mom. They are always coming to see the games in Moscow.

ABOUT GAZPROM-UGRA

– Now let’s go on for the main point, your transfer to “Gazprom-UGRA”. How did it take place?
– I got a call from the main coach Kaka, it was around the time when “Gazprom” was playing the final series against “Dynamo”. He offered me to try myself at “Gazprom”, I gladly accepted. Of course, not every day and not even every year somebody makes you such proposals. I would call it a second chance in my career, it is to start playing in such a strong team. The first was at “Dynamo”, when I was 19 years old, but then I was “green” and inexperienced, as they say. Now I have enough experience. I hope that I will use the chance given to me.

– What can you say about the team?
-Good, working environment. I was well received here, right from the very first days; we communicate, train, everything is as usual.

– Kaka recently said that you have known each other for a long time.
– Yes, I met him when I played for the army club. We played together at CSKA about six months, it’s not that much, but still we know each other. He showed himself as a team leader, he was always sociable, kind, open. I haven’t played together with no one else here, always against.