MINSK, 3 September (BelTA) – Athletes, football players and the sports industry as a whole are expected to show results, because the state spends a lot of money on sport and investments should bring returns, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he visited the children's and youth football center of FC Dinamo Minsk, BelTA reports.
After the opening ceremony of the center, the head of state talked with the main players of the club and young football players. He noted that the country can invite a certain number of foreign players but should, first of all, nurture its own athletes. "We need results. Whoever the president is, me or someone else, will still demand the result," the Belarusian leader stressed, wishing the athletes success.
Aleksandr Lukashenko had a long and detailed conversation with the club's veterans to discuss the approaches to coaching, financing of football, the modern game and, importantly, the education of athletes in the spirit of patriotism.
Yesterday's poor performances of the national football teams was also brought up. "I saw how young players did yesterday. I don't know why they took the field at all. They did not play at all," the head of state said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said that yesterday there were a lot of attack failures, the players did not try to keep the ball and sometimes shot almost at random.
He stated that sometimes people start comparing the development level of football in Belarus and in Russia: “You see, in Russia there are 140-150 million people and we have only 10 million people in Belarus.” The president said that Iceland, whose team beat the Belarusian U21 team the day before, has only several hundred thousand inhabitants.
The president emphasized a great role and responsibility of coaches. “Let us take trampoline gymnastics as an example. [Head coach of the national team Olga] Vlasova is a true dictator there. Strict discipline. She molds them into Olympic champions. She has order in everything,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.
He stressed that every region of the country has great football pitches, a lot of money has been invested there. “In short, something has to be done about football. We have the infrastructure. We will not build anything else. We have other things to spend money on. We need to raise people's salaries in the first place,” the head of state said.
“Money is no object. We will spare no expense, but you must produce good results,” the Belarusian leader stressed. He remarked that young football players are sometimes spoilt by this huge money and “do not see the ball”.
“You may lose, but please give it your all. Today sport is like war, and you must be prepared for this war,” the president said when speaking about the perseverance and will that every athlete needs. Not only have they forgotten how to play, they do not have enough sports anger, he said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko encouraged club veterans to play a bigger role in the development of their sport, give advice and take part in the training process.
Honored Master of Sport and coach, USSR champion Eduard Malofeyev agreed with the president and stressed that it is not enough just to play football, you must also love the game: “When you ask a guy, a coach if they love football, they say they do. When you look at the results, you don't see it. If you love it, you play well. If you don't play well, you don't love the game.”
He also mentioned the spiritual and moral development of athletes which must be also included in the training process.
