Our man in the Middle Kingdom

Leonid Slutsky turns 55 years old

How time flies at lightning speed. Just yesterday he was just Lenya. The teacher of the children's Olympia, in whom no one believed. Or rather, no one believed that he, who had never played tricks and at a semi-serious level, would be able to achieve something noticeable in the coaching field. And after he, a Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences with honors, heartily gave the blind referee Nikolai Pavlov a hearty meal at the end of the Olympians’ match with Svetotekhnika, earning a 6-month disqualification, it was thought that his career would end before it had really begun. But he ended his career - and not at all from the powerful hook of the helmsman from Volgograd - then the referee...

The not always reserved coach was helped out by another Pavlov (Sergei), who suggested that Slutsky work in Elista with backups. However, even successes with Kalmyk youth did not convince the press of the curly-haired specialist’s professional suitability. I don’t want to give his last name, but a very famous sports journalist once said about Slutsky, who unexpectedly headed the Uralan main team in 2003: “Yes, he looks like some kind of intelligent lout from the back of a store. The leaders will laugh at him, but they will hardly listen...”

Outwardly, Leonid Viktorovich, who, by the way, once called himself a boar, has changed very much since those Volgograd-Elista days thanks to willpower and popular medicine. As for laughter, the ability to warm up with jokes and gags became almost the calling card of Slutsky, whose sense of humor was never inferior to his sense of football.

The 35-year-old “prodigy” with a tablet suddenly burst into the big capital crowd, defeating Spartak (3:1) in his first match as head coach of FC Moscow. And he was immediately dubbed the “Russian Mourinho”. True, the final of the National Cup, which the newly minted “townspeople” made it to a year later, did not excite the cool owners, and the counselor went into exile in Samara. Slutsky is reminded of that period on occasion. Moreover, everyone forgot that he brought “Wings of the Soviets” into the European Cup, but the “operetta” with “Terek”, shown on television twice, is etched in the people’s memory.

But what can a coach do when his team is “must lose”? In Grozny. Unless you write a letter of resignation. So Slutsky wrote the paper at the end of the season and ended up in CSKA. “Giner has gone crazy,” was heard from all sides.

However, the stern Evgeny Lennorovich discerned a real leader in the atypical, overly polite coach. And six months later, the red-blue fans were already watching Inter in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The old-world playoffs did not escape the lucky master in the next draw either. But what was most striking was something else: the tutor, who, by the way, confused such concepts as “deposit” and “bank account,” perceived all successes adequately and did not turn into an arrogant proud person. He never refused interviews with journalists and answered in detail even the most idiotic questions, which made him stand out from his colleagues in the shop, who were rude to everyone and everything even after successful battles.

Slutsky immediately, as they say, opened up to the world. He’s also in “What? Where? When?" played, and shone in KVN, and somehow easily had a snack at a famous fast food restaurant. He made fun of himself in Ivan Urgant's program. And in the “Children's Question” program he was not noted in a childish way. “If a person is a referee, then you can beat him,” Leonid Viktorovich cheerfully “revealed the secret” to the back-biters, which greatly angered the RFU.

By the way, fans also wanted to touch Slutsky’s face more than once. I remember how in the fall of 2011, after the defeat by Dynamo, CSKA fans rudely called out the coach as he left for the locker room.

Leonid Viktorovich came up, listened to all the drunken claims and calmly explained everything so that the people who were going to tear him apart five minutes ago saw him off with applause.

Slutsky will eventually give the army team three championships, two Cups and two Super Cups. There could have been more red and blue trophies if not for a business trip to the Russian national team...

Nevertheless, the clever joker, who pulled the national squad to Euro 2016 by the ears and at the same time made CSKA rich, completed the task of both Mutko and Giner. But he will not forgive himself for the puncture on the French fields and will leave both the main team and the club of his own free will. “Russia is not a football country,” Slutsky will sum up the sad result at a meeting with students. And it will soon show up in foggy Albion, which will amaze both its own and others. Some will say that Abramovich helped him become the first Russian coach in the homeland of football. And they will be right. But Roman Arkadyevich, you must admit, does not extend his hand to everyone.

Almost the entire country followed the English adventures in the Championship of Leonid Viktorovich, who abandoned his army millions and, to some extent, put his reputation on the line. The brave sensei, who spoke with local journalists without an interpreter, did not achieve a trump jump with the provincial Hull in six months (four wins, seven draws, nine defeats). But an amazing fact: fans from the county of Yorkshire did not blame the trainer, who once performed “Katyusha” in front of his players (Slutsky used a banana instead of a microphone), for the failures of the “tigers”, and his dismissal was considered a big mistake...

The audience in Holland also fell in love with the Mr. from the Russian Federation, where he managed Vitesse for 16 months. By the way, those tours did not prevent him from brilliantly commentating on the matches of the Russian national team on Channel One before and during the home World Cup. Many then assumed that the energetic wit, having played enough of a coach, would definitely join the ranks of entertainers with microphones, since he analyzed episodes more abruptly than those who famously kicked the ball on the green lawn.

In the summer of 2021, 50-year-old Slutsky, who still preferred a hooded sweater and a baseball cap to a formal suit, finished with Rubin in 4th place and brought them into European competition for the first time in six years. At the same time, Leonid Viktorovich managed to do everything: he criticized (and absolutely to the point) the refereeing corps and managers, built the Bombonera stadium for children in Volgograd, promoted the ruby ​​football channel, recording witty videos and congratulations. It seemed that the Kazan team and their creator had found a second wind and would rush to new heights. But it didn’t work out: Rubin was eliminated in the first qualifying round of the Conference League by the Polish Rukh, and in May 2022, losing to Ufa in the last round, they jumped into the first league.

But Slutsky (attention!) admitted his mistakes and, to the surprise of many, offered the management to serve with the team in division number one for free. However, in November, three months after the start of the season, he finally decided to bow out.

“We need to rest,” this is how Leonid Viktorovich explained his move. But he didn’t “sunbathe” for long. And he took on a new challenge. Spectators saw the coach who loved to swing on the bench not at the stadium, but on YouTube, where Slutsky decided to specifically reboot. He became the face of “Komment.Show” and a regular on almost all comedy programs. Both the public and critics liked him in his new role. The mischievous character joked and famously slandered, quite at the level of inveterate comedians. Yes, there were episodes where the original expert and presenter went too far, giving cheap jokes and rudeness with foul language, but, by and large, the charismatic mentor does not commit anything criminal in his bomb broadcasts. And he knows how to win over. And it is no coincidence that it was to him, erudite and sociable, that several years ago Eteri Tutberidze came, who had not given an interview for quite a long time... And it is also very significant that the money earned, including from these noisy projects, goes to good causes: without any requests for help, but simply at the behest of his soul and heart, Slutsky secretly paid for treatment for cancer and other serious diseases for many people...

Of course, he continues to be periodically criticized for capitalizing on his image through primitive hype. But the hero of the day does not pay attention and is today a participant in the third season of the show “The Emperor's Treasures,” which started in April on the TNT channel. And he’s having a blast there in conjunction with his colleague Oleg Yarovinsky. Teammate in the Shanghai Shenhua club. Yes, Leonid Viktorovich’s main business is still game number one. For the third year now, the most media football coach in Russia has been training a motley team from the Middle Kingdom. And how he drills! Twice led him to silver medals in the domestic championship, won two Chinese Super Cups, and also made it to the playoffs of the Asian Champions League for the first time in history.

“Until they kick me out, I’m not going to leave here! I feel comfortable here. 50 thousand people come to see us, we regularly fight for the championship. And I’m not ready to return home,”

- so says Slutsky, who did not leave Shanghai even after the club was subjected to various sanctions for corruption cases of long ago and began the 2026 tournament with minus 10 points. (And now the team, having won six victories, is in fifth place and will probably re-enter the gold race.)

And I really want the free and bright Leonid Viktorovich, who once did not become a goalkeeper because he climbed a tree after a cat and, falling, shattered his knee, conquered this Chinese peak, and in general raised more than one cherished trophy over his head.