FC Anzhi Makhachkala
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 02/2016
Full name
Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala
Nicknames
Orly (Eagles)
Dagestantsy (Dagestani)
Founded
1991
Ground
Anzhi-Arena, Kaspiysk
Capacity
30,000
Owner
Suleyman Kerimov
Chairman
Konstantin Remchukov
Head coach
Ruslan Agalarov (caretaker)
League
Russian Premier League
2015-16
Russian Premier League, 14th
Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala is a Russian football club based in Makhachkala, capital of the Republic of Dagestan.
Founded in 1991, the club competes in the Russian Football Premier League, playing their home games at the Anzhi-Arena.
On 18 January 2011, Anzhi Makhachkala was purchased by billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, and subsequently made numerous high-profile signings, including those of striker Samuel Eto'o and manager Guus Hiddink.
Following severe budget cuts ahead of the 2013-14 Russian Premier League season, the club lost most of its key players and went on to finish bottom of the table, which resulted in relegation to the Russian National Football League at the end of the season, returning at the first attempt.
HISTORY
The club was founded in 1991 by former Dinamo Makhachkala player Magomed-Sultan Magomedov, then head of Dagnefteprodukt, and took part in its first season in the Dagestan League the same year.
They ended up as league champions with an unbeaten record and 16 wins out of 20 matches.
Due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the club entered Zone 1 of the Russian Second Division (the third-highest tier) in 1992 and finished in 5th place.
The club won their Group in 1993, but due to league reorganisation were not promoted, and remained in the new Western Zone of the third tier until a second-place finish in 1996 guaranteed promotion to the First Division, under the coaching of Eduard Malofeev.
A key player in Anzhi's early history was Azerbaijani international forward Ibragim Gasanbekov, who was the team's top scorer in all of their first seven seasons.
He was league top scorer in 1993 (30 goals) and 1996 (33 goals).
In 1999 Anzhi won the First Division, and were thus promoted to the Russian Premier League for the first time.
The side missed out on a bronze-medal finish on the last day of the season, as they conceded a last-minute Torpedo penalty which took their opponents into third place.
On 20 June 2001, the club played in the final of the Russian Cup for the first time, losing to Lokomotiv on penalties after a 1:1 draw.
Anzhi finished 15th and were relegated from the Premier League in 2002, but during their first season back in the First Division they reached the semi-finals of the Russian Cup where they lost 1:0 to Rostov.
In their seventh season in the First Division, Anzhi won the league and returned to the Premier League.
On 5 December 2010, defender Shamil Burziyev died in a car accident, aged 25.
MODERN HISTORY (2011 - )
Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o was the team's captain until his departure to Chelsea in 2013
On 18 January 2011, the club was purchased by Dagestani billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, but later it was revealed that the President of Dagestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov, met Kerimov and gave him a 100% stake in the club, including 50% of the shares of the former owner of the club Igor Yakovlev, in exchange for financial support.
Kerimov was planning to invest over $200 million in infrastructure, of which a substantial amount will go in building a new stadium with a capacity of more than 40,000 spectators, which would meet all UEFA requirements.
Kerimov's investment was immediate as the club made signings in the 2011 Winter transfer window.
The first significant signing came on 16 February, when the club announced the free transfer of Brazilian left-back Roberto Carlos, a World Cup winner in 2002.
Further signings included €10 million on another Brazilian, the former Corinthians midfielder Jucilei da Silva and €8 million on Moroccan winger Mbark Boussoufa from Anderlecht.
Boussoufa's transfer was finalised in the last minute of the window, on 10 March.
In summer 2011, the club signed the Hungarian Balázs Dzsudzsák, who signed a four-year deal to transfer for a reported €14 million.
Anzhi also bought Russian midfielder Yuri Zhirkov from Chelsea for a similar fee.
On 23 August 2011, Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o signed from Inter Milan for around €28 million, on a world-record €20.5 million annual salary.
In February 2012 the club appointed the experienced Dutchman Guus Hiddink as a new manager, after Yuri Krasnozhan's two-month-long spell in charge.
Hiddink's first signing was Congolese defender Christopher Samba, joining for £12 million from Blackburn Rovers.
On 30 January 2012, Roberto Carlos announced his plans to retire at the end of the season.
He ended his football career on 9 March and took up a role as the club's Director.
On 10 October 2012, Anzhi opened a youth academy, the first in the Republic of Dagestan in order to develop youth talents to the first team.
The academy is being run by Anzhi's Sporting Director Jelle Goes.
On 22 July 2013, Guus Hiddink resigned from his post as manager ending an 18-month stint.
His newly appointed assistant, countryman René Meulensteen, was promoted to the manager position.
However, after 16 days as the team manager, Meulensteen was sacked.
On 7 August 2013, Kerimov decided to reduce the team's annual budget by two-thirds.
On 15 August 2013 Yuri Zhirkov, Igor Denisov (who had played only joined the club in June) and Aleksandr Kokorin (who himself had just signed weeks before) were packaged to FC Dynamo Moscow for an undisclosed fee.
The three players had been purchased with the previous two years at a cost exceeding 50 million euros.
Remchukov said that the reason for the move was the "sharp deterioration in the health of Suleyman Kerimov, because of worries about the club’s lack of success."
In addition, Dynamo also signed Christopher Samba, Vladimir Gabulov and Aleksei Ionov from Anzhi.
Other cost-cutting transfers included Samuel Eto'o and Willian to English side Chelsea (the latter of which had only just signed for Anzhi in January 2013), Lassana Diarra, Mbark Boussoufa and Arseniy Logashov to Lokomotiv Moscow, João Carlos to Spartak Moscow, and Oleg Shatov to Zenit St Petersburg.
The firesale continued into January 2014 with the sale of striker Lacina Traoré to AS Monaco for €18 million and the sale of midfielder Jucilei to United Arab Emirates side Al Jazira Club.
Several of the players sold had been recent signings for Anzhi; Aleksandr Korkorin had signed from Dynamo only a month before being sold back to the Dinamiki and had yet to make an appearance for Anzhi.
Igor Denisov and Aleksei Ionov had both only signed in June and had played only a handful of matches before being sold.
Christopher Samba had rejoined Anzhi in July after a spell with Queens Park Rangers.
Willian had joined in January and played only 11 league matches before being sold.
The budget cut resulted in Anzhi performing terribly in the 2013-14 Russian Premier League.
When the season ended, Anzhi finished last in the Russian Premier League and were relegated, with a record of three wins and 20 points, which made them the worst last-placed team in Europe.
However, they returned to the top division at the first attempt.
Players