Team coach Milos Riga was fired

Czech specialist Milos Rzhiga failed to cope with the task – getting the Omsk hockey team “Avangard” into the playoffs. Yesterday, the club's management terminated his contract ahead of schedule. Avangard does not yet have a candidate for the position of head coach, so coaches Evgeny Kornoukhov and Vladimir Kapulovsky will lead the players in the Hope Cup. Milos Rzhiga worked in the Omsk team for just over six months.

Yesterday Kommersant was informed about the dismissal of the head coach of Omsk Avangard Milos Rzhiga by a source close to the government of the Omsk region. “Rzhiga was unable to solve the task assigned to him and lead the team to the playoffs,” the source explained the reason for the early termination of the contract with Mr. Rzhiga. According to him, there is no candidate for the position of Avangard head coach yet. At the moment, Evgeny Kornoukhov and Vladimir Kapulovsky remain on the team’s coaching staff, who, apparently, will lead the players on March 14 in Avangard’s first match in the Hope Cup.

Yesterday, Milos Rzhiga confirmed the fact of dismissal and said that he was informed about the termination of the contract by telephone. “I no longer work at Avangard, and this hockey season is over for me. I don't know what else I can say right now. Perhaps the club's leaders should talk about this. They just called me and informed me about the management’s decision. I think this decision was made a long time ago. It didn't come as a surprise to me.

I understand everything, there can be no offense,” said Mr. Rzhiga. The former head coach also noted that after settling all the formalities related to his resignation, he intends to go back to his homeland, the Czech Republic.

The possible resignation of Avangard Omsk head coach Milos Rzhiga was discussed even before the Olympic break in the KHL championship. Then Avangard's director of hockey operations, Viktor Shalaev, made it clear in an interview that the last four matches of the regular season could seriously affect the future of the Czech coach at the club. Let us remind you that in the final matches of the championship, the “hawks” scored only five points out of a possible 12, losing their chances of getting into the playoffs after the second game. This happened to Avangard for the first time in the entire existence of the KHL.

Milos Rzhiga was appointed head coach of Avangard in September last year. Former head coach Petri Matikainen was fired after three defeats in the first six league matches. The contract with the Czech specialist was signed for two years, and it is possible that now the Omsk club will have to pay the Czech the amount specified in the contract in case of the possibility of unilateral termination.

Anton Galtsev

Avangard was left without the main thing