The history of football does not know so many immigrants from sunny Tajikistan, which is not surprising. This state can be safely attributed to those countries that are commonly called “dwarfs” in modern sport, and the national championship taking place on its territory is hardly covered by foreign media. However, there are bright personalities in the football annals of Tajikistan.
Born in USSR
Cherevchenko Igor Gennadievich - a native of Dushanbe. His father, also a famous football player in the past, played almost his entire career for the same club - the local Pamir. By the standards of modern football, this is very rare.
Igor Cherevchenko gained the greatest popularity, speaking for the Moscow Lokomotiv. Also on his track record are eight matches for the national team of Tajikistan.
The way to big football
Cherevchenko, the youngest, began, as did his father, at the Pamir Army Club, based in Dushanbe. It is noteworthy that the first steps of the player took place under the guidance of the same coaches who brought up Gennady Cherevchenko for great sports. Pamir is one of the leaders of Tajik football, therefore, already at the age of eighteen, Igor Cherevchenko became the champion of his country.
Then he played in the position of a midfielder, and it was he who owned a kind of record - seven goals scored in one match. We are talking about the match “Pamir” - “Ravshan”, which ended with a joyless score for the last 10: 0. An achievement in itself, although not too remarkable (nevertheless, shipping a full basket to a semi-amateur team is not too honorable), but quite rare
This was followed by a season in Obninsk "Industry", in which Igor Cherevchenko played 36 matches and four times signed at the gates of the opponents. Alas, today in Obninsk only the older generation will remember the existence of that team. In 2005, the club was disbanded.
Loko
Cherevchenko was brought to the Moscow Lokomotiv by none other than the legend of Soviet and Russian (already as a coach) football Yuri Pavlovich Semin. As mentioned above, the Tajik championship did not arouse interest among football gourmets, however, the workers of the selection services of clubs from the more prestigious Russian championships could often be found in the stands during matches. The calculation is simple - find a football nugget and purchase it for relatively little money. So from time to time it happened, including outside of Tajikistan.
Five years spent as part of the “railway” is undoubtedly the brightest period of a career that Igor Cherevchenko can recall. The photo of the football player is still stored in the Lokotimotiva club museum, among other legends involved in the golden period of the Moscow team. By the way, Semin considered that the footballer would bring more benefit in defense, therefore, over time, his ward was re-qualified as stoppers.
In total, Igor spent more than 120 matches for the Moscow team Cherevchenko, five times he managed to upset rivals. As part of the “railwaymen”, the defender became the owner of the national cup four times, won silver and once bronze medals of the Russian Premier League twice, and with the team reached the semifinals of the Cup Winners' Cup - a tournament held in those years under the auspices of UEFA.
Retirement
At the peak of his career, Cherevchenko accepted the offer of another metropolitan club and in 2002 moved to the Moscow Torpedo. As it turned out later, this decision was not the most successful, because soon enough the “torpedo” will disappear from the football map of Russia. However, by that time the career of the player himself will end. At the age of 28, after another serious injury, Igor Cherevchenko decided to end the professional career of a football player.
New stage
However, the younger did not leave Cherevchenko from the big sport, and in 2008 his new history began in his native Lokomotiv - coaching. Until the end of the 2015-2016 season, he entered the coaching staff of the “railwaymen”, winning the national cup with red-green ones. Over the past few months, Igor Gennadievich has temporarily retired from football and is trying to spend more time with his family, but I want to believe that this will again be a short pause, and he will have many bright sporting events ahead.