In his youth, Alan Kusov was one of Russia’s most promising football players. The athlete’s career developed rapidly. The 22-year-old midfielder’s performances for Alania impressed Valery Gazzaev, and the coach decided to invite him to CSKA.
However, the boy did not realize his potential: the player turned his head with a lot of money.
“Do you want to go to CSKA?”
At the age of 12, Kusov entered the academy of Vladikavkaz Spartak, where he immediately found himself in the pencil of the coach of the main team, Alania. After going through the entire club system, the promising newcomer was loaned out to Iriston, who were then playing in the first division. Upon returning to Alanya, the footballer made his way into the first team and soon earned an invitation to Russia’s under-21 national team.
For two seasons at Alanya, he made the bosses of all the top Russian clubs talk about himself. The first contender for the transfer of the player was the “Spartak” of Moscow. Without thinking twice, Kusov agreed and went to the club for a medical examination, but unexpectedly failed. Then Evgeny Giner contacted the player: he personally invited the young football player to the army team camp. Gazzaev needed a strong midfielder, and the coach knew Alan personally from working with the youth team.
“We talked to Gazzaev, he handed the phone to Giner. He briefly: “If you want CSKA, then take a ticket and fly,” Kusov recalled in an interview with Sport-Express.
RIA Novosti
Kusov’s transfer instantly began to pay off: in the first two matches, he gave two assists. At that time, the player was called up to the main team, where he participated in a friendly match with Romania. In the debut game, he gave an effective pass to Andrey Arshavin.
However, despite his brilliant debut, the midfielder was never able to make a place for himself in the CSKA team. The footballer could not stand the competition with Yaroshik, Solomatin and Yanovsky. At the end of the season, Kusov appeared in only 11 games, and the following summer the army team returned him to Alania.
“Soviet sport”
Addiction and career decline
In 2003, CSKA became the champion of Russia for the first time, and Kusov won the gold medal, this achievement remained the main one in his career. However, the midfielder did not want to come to the award ceremony. Only a year later, the Ossetian visited the team’s office in the capital, where he received a championship bonus in the amount of 100 thousand dollars.
A lot of money turned the football player’s head, and he tried his best. Alan has always loved gambling, but with the receipt of the bonus, he began to constantly disappear in the casino.
– A week later, there was no trace of this money. At that time, everyone already knew how strongly he was hooked on the casino. I could sit there for weeks, forgetting about football,” Kusov said.
Addiction soon put an end to a football player’s career. CSKA, who retained Kusov’s rights, tried to shake him up by sending him on loan: he spent two seasons at Alania, another at Spartak from Chelyabinsk. However, in 2006, it became clear to club leaders that the midfielder could not return to his previous level, and the parties broke off cooperation.
“Soviet sport”
The football player himself recalls that during his active passion for the casino, he lost … not less than 800 thousand dollars. To pay off his debts, Alan had to sell apartments and cars.
Wandering and a new life
For two years, Kusov tried to return to professional football, but to no avail. Injuries also interfered: within a few years he underwent four knee surgeries. Only in 2008, the management of Irkutsk “Star” agreed to attach the player. From that moment, they began their wanderings through the country and the near abroad. Over six years, the midfielder switched to nine teams, including visiting Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. The last clubs of the football player were “Dolgoprudny” and Yalta “Pearl”.
“Soviet sport”
– We played for the cup with the Beslan-FAYUR team, I didn’t score a penalty. Gazzaev was in the match with his son Vova. He waited for me under the podium: “Aren’t you embarrassed? How many conversations I had with you! What have you come to? I was a national team player, and now where? Get out of here!” recalled Alan of an episode of his 2011 career.
Kusov retired from the sport in 2014, after which he disappeared from radar for a while. A year later, the footballer told reporters he ended his gambling addiction in 2009 and started a new life. However, in 2017, his words were refuted by his former teammate Veniamin Mandrykin:
– He owes him half of Russia! People felt sorry for him, he helped. But Kusov also threw them out. And now, homeless. Which, they say, even the mother refused! They took his son’s apartment away because of debts,” SE quotes the player.
On the accusations of his colleague Alan responded only four years later, after having contacted the “Championship”. The former player said he works in “Alanya” and lives with his family in his own home. After Spartak Gogniev’s departure from the club, Kusov was no longer on the coaching staff of the Vladikavkaz team.
In the summer of 2022, the footballer reappeared in the public field, becoming part of the Bey Begi football club. However, mentions of the player on the project’s social networks stopped last fall, at the same time that Kusov himself stopped updating his telegram channel, so more details of his career are still unknown.
