BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

01/08/2007

Former GDR Soccer Coach Clinches Belarus Slot

From Thuringen to Belarus, Bernd Stange has had a long, varied career

Former East German soccer trainer Bernd Stange nabbed the top job at Belarus. The world-traveling coach appears to be taking a final stab at getting a team to the World Cup, in 2010.

The 59-year-old German has also coached Oman, Iraq and a set of Ukrainian, Cyprian and Australian sides.

The Belarus soccer federation announced he would succeed Yuri Puntus, who resigned after Belarus mustered only seven points from their first seven qualifiers for Euro 2008, leaving them all but out of the finals in Switzerland and Austria.

Its a long way from Iraq to Belarus -- but Stange made itBildunterschrift: Gro?ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Its a long way from Iraq to Belarus -- but Stange made it

In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Stange made it clear that he was not interested in looking at the politics of his new home team's country.

"Politics don't interest me"

"If someone has political questions, they should take it to UEFA or FIFA, which recently founded a fantastic soccer federation here," he said. Belarus is a "fully-fledged member of FIFA and UEFA, and all relevant commissions," he noted, adding that political questions "don't interest me."

While he clearly intends to stay out of eastern European politics, Stange does hope to prepare a powerful team to take part in the qualification round for the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa.

"There are excellent players in this league," he said. "Many of them play abroad -- Moscow, Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Tomsk, Italy. They're everywhere. With those players, and with those who play in our highest league, we can certainly pull something good together."

A long, slow road ahead

But fans shouldn't expect immediate results, Stange warned.

"Anyone who think this will happen in a week doesn't know anything about soccer," he said.

Ukraine celebrated a World Cup victory over SwitzerlandBildunterschrift: Gro?ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Ukraine celebrated a World Cup victory over Switzerland

Speaking to the SID news service, Stange said that it was a "great honor and a difficult job" to be given at the end of his career. He looked at the example of Ukraine, noting that that team had managed to qualify.

The contract for the ex-GDR trainer runs through December, 2009, with an option to extend for the World Cup.

Unusual job application

"If I don't make the qualification, then it's over anyway," he told reporters after signing his contract. For Belarus, qualifying for the World Cup would be the greatest success ever reached.

The application for the trainer job was unusual even for the very experienced Stange. He had to present his concept for the team before media hordes in a hotel in the Belarus capital of Minsk. Functionaries then disappeared into a back room where a vote was taken, then emerged to offer him the job while the reporters continued to look on.

Source:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2716231,00.html

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