Zinetula Bilyaletdinov announced his resignation as coach of Ak Bars. Of course, this is not a sensation: the last KHL season clearly showed that the era of the great coach has come to an end and his methods are already outdated and do not work. But now Zinetula Hajdarovich is officially ending his impressive career. Bilyaletdinov, 69, plans to stay in hockey in another capacity and likely spend more time with his family, which he has grown to include a great-grandson. Now let’s remember how and why Bilyaletdinov became a lump in our hockey.
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First successes in his native Dynamo and internship in America
Many, I am sure, think that Bilyaletdinov has been in Ak Bars all his life, but, of course, this is not the case. Zinetula Khaidarovich was born in Moscow and spent his entire playing career at Dynamo Moscow, where he played as a defender. Bilyaletdinov did not become the champion of the USSR, but collected an impressive set of silver and bronze medals, but achieved great success with the Union team – Zinetula Haydarovich, six-time world champion and Olympic champion in Sarajevo in 1984 .
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Bilyaletdinov began his coaching career in 1988, becoming Yuri Moiseev’s assistant at his local club. He worked as an assistant at Dynamo for five seasons and in this position he became a four-time champion (USSR, CIS and MHL), helping first Vladimir Yurzinov and then Pyotr Vorobyov. In 1993, Bilyaletdinov was invited to work in Winnipeg: Zinetula Khaidarovich became the first Russian specialist to receive such an offer from the NHL. With the Jets, Bilyaletdinov was one of John Paddock’s assistants for two seasons, then worked for a year in the AHL and completed his North American internship with a season as Don Hay’s assistant in Phoenix.
Having gained experience, Bilyaletdinov returned to Dynamo, but already became the head coach of the blue and white. During three full seasons at the helm of his native team, Bilyaletdinov won silver in 1999 (lost to Magnitka in the final) and gold in 2000 (beat Ak Bars in the final). This was the first championship in Bilyaletdinov’s coaching career. In addition, Dynamo took two silver medals in the Euroleague during this era at the end of the 20th century, and Zinetula Khaidarovich also helped his old acquaintance Yurzinov Sr. to the silver medal at the 1998 Olympic Games.
The beginning of a great era at Ak Bars
At the beginning of the new millennium, Bilyaletdinov continued to work with Dynamo, but did not achieve further success with the blue and white. After a dry defeat against Avangard in the first round of the 2004 playoffs, the paths of the coach and the club parted forever. In September 2004, Bilyaletdinov led the Russian team at the World Cup (defeated in the quarterfinals by the United States), and three weeks after the tournament, the great era of Zinetula Khaidarovich at Ak Bars began.
Zinetula Bilyaletdinov and Alexander Yakushev
Photo: RIA Novosti
The Kazan team began the 2004/2005 lockout season under the leadership of the Czech Vladimir Vuitek, a two-time Russian champion with Lokomotiv. We all know very well that for that championship, the Ak Bars management, taking advantage of a unique opportunity, formed a real “dream team” with Khabibulin, Lecavalier, Richards, Saley, Kovalchuk, Kovalev. “Ak Bars” intended to win the championship for the celebration of the Kazan millennium in 2005, but the start of the season, according to the club’s elite, did not go well, and at the end of September Vuytek lost his position in the capital of Tatarstan. Cech, by the way, was fired after two certain victories; Probably by that time negotiations with the current head coach of the Russian national team, Bilyaletdinov, had already come to an end.
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So, at the end of September 2005, Zinetula Khaidarovich ended up at Ak Bars, where he remained for the rest of his coaching career, albeit with interruptions.
Three golds for Kazan and joining the Russian team
“Ak Bars” – 2009
Photo: RIA Novosti
On the mighty anniversary of the republic, Bilyaletdinov did not win gold for Ak Bars: the star-studded Kazan team was eliminated after the first round, losing to Lokomotiv. But after that, Bilyaletdinov turned the Leopards into the dominant force in Russian hockey. In 2006, Ak Bars celebrated its move to the Tatneft Arena with a championship, in 2007 the Kazan team lost only in the decisive match of the final to Magnitka, and then there were two Gagarin Cups in 2009 and 2010.
In the following season, after two consecutive championships, Ak Bars Bilyaletdinov was still defeated in the playoffs by the powerful Salavat with Vyacheslav Bykov at the helm. Soon the Ufa team won the Gagarin Cup, and a month and a half later, Bykov’s Russian team failed at the 2011 World Cup, and the question of a new coach of the national team for the Olympic cycle became more acute. As you remember, it was Bilyaletdinov who became this voluntarily or compulsorily, who in fact was forced to leave his job in Kazan for this.
But nothing good could come from such an alliance. Bilyaletdinov started in the national team due to his health, winning the 2012 World Cup with Prime Malkin, but then there were 3:8 losses to the Americans in the quarterfinals of the 2013 World Cup and a memorable loss to the Finns in the playoffs of the world Cup. Sochi Olympic Games.
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A triumphant return to Ak Bars and a missed opportunity to leave gracefully
Having refused the imposed job in the national team, Bilyaletdinov returned to Ak Bars, with whom he continued to lead the KHL. In 2015, Kazan reached the final, where they lost to SKA, but in 2018, Zinetula Khaidarovich made Ak Bars the first three-time winner of the Gagarin Cup. And this was perhaps the highest point in the relationship between the coach and the Kazan club.
A year after the triumph, Ak Bars was impressively beaten by Avangard in the first round: the Hawks took the series with a score of 4:0 and Bob Hartley showed exactly how to deal with Bilyaletdinov’s hockey. After that, the now legendary coach seemed to retire and the management at Ak Bars was changed, but last season the entire republic convinced Bilyaletdinov to lead the team again when Oleg Znarok completely failed at the start of the season. And he returned, calmed down the star team, put everything in order, and with this effect, Ak Bars almost won another Gagarin Cup, stopping only at the seventh match of the final against CSKA.
Ak Bars in the 2023/2024 season
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
It is now clear that we should have stopped there. Bilyaletdinov could no longer cope with full-time work during the season, and his Ak Bars, having had a mediocre regular season, fell ingloriously in the first round of the playoffs. But in retrospect, they are all strong. A year ago, no one could imagine that Zinetula Khaidyarovich was simply tired, emotionally exhausted, but in today’s KHL, which has become more equal, no one can be scared by his previous merits, even at the beginning of the Gagarin Cup.
And now Bilyaletdinov is leaving. It is not a positive note, but his great career will not allow us to say that he is the last to be remembered to work. No. Kazan, and throughout hockey Russia, Zinetula Khaidarovich will be remembered as a winning coach, a trendsetter and, in fact, the creator of the Ak Bars we know now.
