The ex-head coach of Rostov Sergey Balakhnin told RB Sport that he considers the appointment of Kurban Berdyev to the post of head coach of Sochi a good choice.
70-year-old Berdyev will start working in Sochi from the new year.
“Berdyev will succeed in Sochi,” said Balakhnin. – The change of the head coach in the club suggested itself. The team was losing ground, and changes were needed. Berdyev is a good and interesting choice.
– What will Sochi claim in the second part of the season?
– Berdyev does not have a quick result. Kurban Bekievich will not do everything hastily.
After 17 rounds, Sochi takes 9th place in the RPL WORLD.
Thomas Astudillo is a sports journalist and author who writes for Sportish. He has a deep love and knowledge of sports, and is known for his engaging and informative writing on the latest sports news and events.
This summer, the 23rd FIFA World Cup will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico. This tournament, which traditionally takes place before the start of each new World Cup, is already being referred to in the media as the tournament that should bring the organizers the highest revenue in history. The objective reasons for this are extremely important because for the first time, 48 teams will compete in the last part of the World Cup.
But as it looks now, not all national teams will be able to count on more support at the 2026 World Cup. At least in the United States, where 78 of the 104 games will be played in stadiums. And it’s not even about the traditional problem of how to grab tickets to the tournament. It is much more important to obtain permission to enter the country in order to take your seats in the stadium.
2026 World Cup ticket holders will be eligible for priority visa interviews to travel to the United States. The system, called FIFA Pass, which was previously announced by American President Donald Trump, became operational on January 20. It had to be implemented so that national team fans who qualified for the 2026 World Cup could conduct all the interviews required for visas in the simplest way. It is true that registration through FIFA Pass does not guarantee further visa approval, as representatives of the US State Department emphasized that the ticket holder will have to undergo a “comprehensive check”.
It is worth noting that citizens of many countries participating in the US Visa Waiver Program, which covers most of Europe including the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and some other countries around the world, will not need to apply for a visa. They will be able to visit the United States for up to 90 days by applying through the electronic travel authorization system ESTA.
The FIFA Pass program is required for citizens of countries that do not have a visa-free entry agreement with the United States. According to officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the innovation will reduce a number of bureaucratic procedures and speed up the process of obtaining a visa for a period of 60 days. This means that candidates will have to wait up to two months to find out whether they will be accepted to the 2026 World Cup matches to be held in the USA.
The official statement includes the following statements: “During the interview, the applicant must show that he/she meets the visa requirements, plans to comply with our laws and leaves the country at the end of the tournament. [ЧМ-2026]. “America’s security and the protection of our borders will always come first.”
The launch of FIFA Pass almost coincided with the announcement by American authorities to suspend the issuance of immigrant visas to citizens of some countries. In particular, the restrictions affected 75 countries, including five-time world football champions Brazil. Of this number, 15 countries (Algeria, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Uruguay, Uzbekistan) qualified for the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. The other 7 countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Jamaica, Kosovo, North Macedonia) are struggling to participate in the 2026 World Cup with the final qualifying rounds.
It is true that State Department officials later issued a statement that the suspension “applies only to immigrant visas” and “does not apply to nonimmigrant visas, such as visas for tourists, athletes and their families, and members of the media.”
The decision to indefinitely suspend immigrant visa applications for citizens of 75 countries came into force the previous day, Wednesday, January 21. Before this, US President Donald Trump extended the travel ban, which came into force on January 1 and prohibited citizens of countries on this list from visiting the United States.
Getty Images. Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino
For example, Haiti and Iran, which are eligible to participate in the 2026 World Cup, are on the list of countries subject to full restrictions, while Ivory Coast and Senegal, which are also eligible, are on the list of countries subject to partial restrictions.
US officials had already emphasized that the FIFA Pass program would not provide the opportunity to obtain a visa to people who “are not eligible for a visa for certain reasons”. In other words, this means that fans of at least the four countries listed above will not be able to fly to the United States and attend World Cup matches and provide loud and active support for their favorites.
There are exceptions, of course, but these apply to athletes, sports team members, including coaches, and individuals performing support duties, as well as their immediate family members. However, the statements made clear that the exceptions do not apply to fans or spectators in these countries. The latter will need to apply for a visa as usual, and the only concession they will be entitled to by purchasing advance tickets to any of the 2026 World Cup matches will be the right to priority interview appointments granted to them through the FIFA Pass programme.
Therefore, already many observers and experts emphasize that the 2026 World Cup risks becoming one of the most “hostile” events for football fans around the world. On the other hand, it is unlikely that the FIFA leadership will have real influence on the administration of US President Donald Trump, but even if this does not happen, the boss of world football Gianni Infantino has done absolutely nothing to try to somehow resolve this difficult situation. It is much easier for Infantino to come up with another incomprehensible award for Trump than to enter into an argument with him, it is still unknown what consequences this will have for Switzerland.
However, considering where the previous two World Cups were held and how the selection of the host of the 2018 and 2022 world championships took place, based on numerous rumors and facts in the media, this is far from the main scandal of FIFA…
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
Russian footballer Fedor Smolovhaving become national champion with Krasnodar, he decided to continue his career as a coach. This became known from the head of the Academy RFU Irina Baranova.
“In fact, Fedor Smolov, like many other famous footballers of the past, applied for training under the “A-” programof UEFA +B-of UEFA“For professional players. A group is being formed now, preparation is scheduled to start in March,” he said. “This is the third intake under this program, only former footballers who meet the criteria can enter it. It is great that eminent graduates of the previous two streams – Andrei Arshavin, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Vladimir Granat, Roman Pavlyuchenko – are engaged in the development of youth and youth football.”
“Yuri Zhirkov recently joined the coaching staff of Dynamo Moscow, Dmitry Sychev and Roman Shirokov work in the football industry. Women are also trained under this program – Elena Terekhova manages the women’s football team “Spartak”, and other famous Russian footballers are expected in the new group. We also trained representatives of Belarusian football. Graduates of the Academy RFU They are growing both as coaches and as managers,” added the agency interlocutor.
Fedor Smolov, who is 35 years old, has extensive experience in his playing career. He played for several clubs, including Anzhi, Ural, Dynamo, Lokomotiv, Feyenoord and Celta. Together with Lokomotiv he won the Russian Cup twice and the Russian Super Cup once. Smolov played 45 matches for the Russian national team, in which he scored 16 goals. After the end of the 2024/25 season, Smolov left Krasnodar and has now decided to continue his coaching career.
I’m a sports enthusiast and journalist who has worked in the news industry for over 8 years. I currently work as an author at Sportish and my work focuses mainly on sports news.
Samara’s Krylya Sovetov football club will have time to register all its players in the current transfer window and will repay its debt to Rostec’s RT-Capital subsidiary amid rumors about a possible transfer ban imposed by the Russian Football Federation (RFU). This was reported by Dmitry YakovlevChairman of the club’s board of directors.
They had reported this previously RFU could introduce a transfer ban for Krylia Sovetov due to financial irregularities. At the moment, the club’s debt to RT-Capital is 519 million rubles, of which 454 million is the principal debt and 64.9 million is the performance fee.
“We expected that such a situation might arise after RT-Capital announced its intention to declare Krylya Sovetov bankrupt. RFU operates in compliance with current regulations. We plan to repay all debts to RT-Capital by February 3rd. Let me remind you that the transfer window is open until February 19, so we will have time to register all players and prepare for the start of the second part of the Russian championship,” Yakovlev noted.
The club borrowed funds from Rostec for financial support, but has not met its debt repayment obligations since 2016. On December 1, 2025, enforcement proceedings were initiated to collect a debt of more than 928 million rubles from Krylya Sovetov in favor of RT-Capital. This decision was made by the Moscow Arbitration Court and later confirmed by the 9th Arbitration Court of Appeal.
On December 30, the club announced the payment of 535 million rubles to repay the debt, and in the first half of January another 54 million rubles were repaid.
On January 19, RT-Capital filed a lawsuit in the Moscow Arbitration Court against Krylya Sovetov in the amount of almost 146 million rubles. On January 21, RT-Capital, in a message to Fedresurs, notified its intention to appeal to the arbitration court for the bankruptcy of the Samara club. Krylya Sovetov said it intends to pay off the balance of the debt before RT-Capital files a lawsuit. Regarding the new application, the club noted that it does not have a clear understanding of its requirements, as the application has not yet been received.
I’m a sports enthusiast and journalist who has worked in the news industry for over 8 years. I currently work as an author at Sportish and my work focuses mainly on sports news.
