The case of Damir Zhafyarov in Ak Bars ended up becoming a scandal, and a public one at that. The hockey player, who since the beginning of the season has not found a common language with Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, has not yet moved from Kazan, and a couple of days before the deadline, his agent Shumi Babaev took extreme measures, also Zhafyarov . As another “Bilyaletdinov hostage” who joined him “Nikita Evseev wrote a statement to the KHL against the head coach of Ak Bars with the unprecedented wording “about sports discrimination.” Hockey players are asking the league to release them from their contracts with the Kazan club, where they do not appear on the roster, and give them the opportunity to move to another team.
Related materials
There was a scandal. Two Ak Bars players wrote a statement to the KHL against Bilyaletdinov!
This is not the first time that a KHL coach and players have been unable to work together, but it has not yet reached the point of accusations of discrimination in our league. Usually these problems are resolved by simply terminating the contract, which is quite easy to do in the KHL, where the legal force of the employment contract is small and clubs do not bear much responsibility for failed transactions.
Related materials
The clubs’ legal tricks do not beautify the KHL. When will the league make everyone honor their contracts?
But although Bilyaletdinov obviously does not need Zhafyarov as a hockey player, Ak Bars held on to the player as a valuable asset. The Kazan club knows very well that in another team this player of undoubted talent can reveal himself and cause problems for his former team at some point in the playoffs. Therefore, Ak Bars also wants to get something useful for Zhafyarov and is in no hurry to let Damir go like this.
For four months, the interested parties could not agree on anything, Zhafyarov, wounded or not, it is unknown, sat in the deep reserves of Ak Bars and continues to sit, and now the situation has reached the stage of conflict, and public opinion one in that. Yesterday we learned about the position of the hockey player’s agent, the position of the club, and the KHL also responded to the submitted application. And who is right in this confrontation?
Damir Zhafyarov
Photo: ak-bars.ru
I think that most observers of this action empathize with Zhafyarov, who is losing his season in his prime, and therefore support the point of view and decisions of the hockey player’s representative. Shumi Babaev spoke excitedly with Bilyaletdinov, tried, with the help of the league, to free Zhafyarov from contractual dependence, while the agent, in an interview with several publications, stressed that he had no complaints about the management of the club. You can understand Babaev: he needs to save the season for his client Zhafyarov, but fighting with Ak Bars is not profitable from the point of view of the prospects of continuing to work with this stable and rich club.
Babaev focused everything on the figure of Bilyaletdinov, and this is clearly an attempt to provoke negativity among the public towards the coach who “gagged” the hockey player. In this wave, we can also remember the story from 15 years ago with Sergei Zinoviev, who also stood firmly in Bilyaletdinov’s reserve and then sent a complaint to Vladimir Shalaev. Then, by the way, the KHL terminated the hockey player’s contract with Ak Bars, despite the club’s protest.
Damir Zhafyarov
Photo: Ilnar Tukhbatov, photo.khl.ru
That is to say, it is not a new story that Zinetula Hajdarovich can be very harsh with some players, and also consistent and stubborn. But who didn’t know this? It is quite possible that the situation with Zhafyarov will give rise to new enemies for Bilyaletdinov, but the coach himself does not care about this at all, and in Kazan he was an icon and a living legend, and he remains so. This is demonstrated by the club’s statement after Babaev’s public appearances. In it, Ak Bars supports Bilyaletdinov and makes it clear that if the agent went to war against Zinetula Khaidarovich, he will have to fight with the entire organization.
Related materials
“Ak Bars” published a statement about the situation with Zhafyarov and Evseev, who want to leave the club
And Babaev seems to have little chance of winning. It’s a pity for Zhafyarov, Shumi’s emotions are understandable, but the legal truth is on the side of Ak Bars. The club complies with all the terms of the contract, and it is unlikely that the contract stipulates that Zhafyarov is obliged to receive playing time and not sit on the bench. Kazan residents can say that Damir lost the competition, they can refer to injuries, of which, according to Bilyaletdinov’s recent performance, there were two in the middle of the season. And who can argue with this? The KHL Disciplinary Committee, which the league called a body independent of it, can still consider Zhafyarov’s expulsion from training as “sports discrimination” (a concept that is not specified in the KHL Legal Regulations), as was the case. But, according to press reports from Kazan, Damir returned to classes just yesterday, and this is probably Ak Bars’ reaction to Babaev’s actions. The club remains firm and still has no intention of losing its assets for anything.
Related materials
Exclusive
KHL responded to Zhafyarov and Evseev’s demand to terminate their contracts with Ak Bars
Ak Bars may not be humanly correct, but it is according to the law. Zhafyarov’s side can get any kind of public support, but there is little chance of winning the case. Especially, by the way, in the case of Nikita Evseev, who, in accordance with his bilateral contract, receives practice at the VHL. In Zhafyarov’s case, there is another factor that reduces Damir’s chances of getting rid of his contract with Ak Bars. It’s no secret that the Kazan club agreed to exchange the disgraced striker for Metallurg, but Zhafyarov himself, who did not want to play either in Magnitogorsk or under the leadership of Andrei Razin, activated the clause in the contract on the impossibility of an exchange . without the consent of the hockey player. It turns out that it is not so bad for Damir in the Kazan reserves, since he does not use all the ways to get out of there?
Related materials
Exclusive
Ak Bars general manager talks about Zhafyarov: the no-trade clause stands in the way, the ball is in his court
It seems that in this story the hockey player’s team only has itself to blame. After all, we can remember how Zhafyarov ended up at Ak Bars: at the beginning of the summer, SKA traded the striker who had become unnecessary for Roman Rotenberg to Kazan. At the same time, both Damir and his agent consciously took this step, understanding the magnitude of the competition among Ak Bars forwards, and at the same time rejected offers from other teams, where Zhafyarov would definitely be destined for a place in the 6 first. At the very least, these are Salavat Yulaev and Avangard.
Damir Zhafyarov in the match with Lada
Photo: ak-bars.ru
Damir enthusiastically told how he supported the Kazan club as a child and agreed to lower his salary to help Ak Bars overcome the salary cap. Reality turned out to be much harsher than expected, but who is to blame for that? Zhafyarov and his agent chose a risky path and the risk was not worth it: this happens in life. Now Babaev probably counted on the loyalty of the club, which provided the forward with a discount on the salary in the off-season, but he was wrong. And Shumi may be a thousand times right in assessing Bilyaletdinov’s actions in relation to his client, but the Ak Bars coach did not do anything illegal, and it is practically impossible to unravel this tangle in the way the agent needs, and even in a short time. . time. And the KHL is unlikely to follow a high-profile precedent to avoid in the future the farce of sports discrimination, the definition of which can be found in situations at any club.
