Biography of Stanislav Cherchesov
Stanislav Salamovich Cherchesov is one of the most famous Russian goalkeepers of the 90s of the last century. For a long time he defended the colors of Spartak Moscow and the Russian team. Having completed his career as a goalkeeper, he graduated from higher coaching courses and successfully coached both domestic and foreign football clubs.
In August 2016, Stanislav Cherchesov was appointed head coach of the Russian national football team. With him, the Russian team reached the quarterfinals of the home World Cup in 2018 and did not reach the playoffs at the European Championship in 2024. On July 8 of the same year, the contract with Cherchesov was terminated.
Football coach Stanislav Cherchesov
Childhood and youth
The future goalkeeper was born in a large and friendly family. His father worked as a bus driver, and his mother was a housewife and raised five children. Stanislav was the youngest in the family, and was always under the auspices of four older sisters.
Childhood photo of Stanislav Cherchesov: the future goalkeeper and his family
Studying at school was difficult for him, and the restless boy was sent to the city football section. An amazing fact, but for a long time Cherchesov could not decide who he wanted to be more: a goalkeeper or a striker. He made the final and irrevocable choice only at the age of 14, taking a place at the gate.
In 1980, Cherchesov entered the Ordzhonikidze Institute of Physical Culture, and a year later he took a place at the gates of the local branch of Spartak. The young goalkeeper played for this team from 1981 to 1984, after which he received an invitation to Spartak Moscow.
As you know, they don’t call Spartak twice, and therefore Cherchesov went to Moscow to watch without hesitation.
Goalkeeper “Spartacus”
At that time, the great Rinat Dasaev stood at the gates of the Moscow club, and they planned to take Cherchesov as a double, a reserve player. In addition, in the first training sessions, Stanislav showed himself extremely weak, conceding 5-7 goals per game.
Stanislav Cherchesov remembered as the goalkeeper of the Moscow “Spartak”
Fortunately, the troubles of fate did not break Cherchesov. For more than three years he sat on the bench, waiting for his chance, and in 1988 he was completely loaned to Lokomotiv for one season.
In the same year, Dasaev received the Golden Gloves (the title of the best goalkeeper in Europe), left to play in Spain, and Cherchesov returned to Spartak as the main goalkeeper. He never gave up his seat to anyone else. Since then, every year he has consistently received the title of the best goalkeeper in the country.
In 1992, Cherchesov was the first of the domestic goalkeepers to be recognized as the best goalkeeper in Russia, and in 1993 he signed a contract with the German Dynamo Dresden. Despite a successful game, the club was relegated from the top league to the first, and Spartak Moscow rented Cherchesov to participate in the Champions League.
Stanislav never returned to Germany; he later signed a new contract with the Austrian Tyrol. For 6 years spent in Austria, Cherchesov became a real legend of the club, got his own house and became an honorary resident of the city of Tyrol. It was in this club that he ended his career as a goalkeeper.
Goalkeeper Stanislav Cherchesov in his youth
Stanislav Cherchesov played for the Russian national team from 1992 to 2000. The last game for the native team was the match against the Israeli national team, which ended with a score of 4:1 in favor of the opponents.
Trainer
After completing his career as a football player, Stanislav Cherchesov graduated from the highest coaching courses, received an international license and went to coach the Austrian club Kufstein (from January to November 2004).
In November 2004, he received an invitation to head Tyrol, in which he himself recently played as a goalkeeper. In two years of work, Cherchesov twice led Tyrol to the championship in Austria.
In mid-2007, the coach’s cherished dream came true – Stanislav headed Spartak Moscow. According to statistics, he was the most successful coach after Oleg Romantsev, with his help the team took second place in the Russian championship.
Since 2004, Stanislav Cherchesov has been coaching football players
However, in 2008, having suffered three defeats in a row with a big score, he incurred the wrath of the fans and the dissatisfaction of the management. The last straw was the transfer of the legend of the club, Yegor Titov, to the backup team. After this, Cherchesov was dismissed from his post.
After a two-year break, he undertook to train the Sochi Zhemchuzhina, but soon the club was closed due to financial problems.
In 2011, Cherchesov took over Terek from Grozny and took seventh place with him in the Russian Championship, the highest in the history of the team.
In 2013, Stanislav Salamovich headed Perm Amkar and kept the club in the top division. In 2014, a contract was signed with Dynamo Moscow, which Cherchesov brought to the European Cup zone.
At the end of 2015, Cherchesov left for Poland, where he headed FC Legia. In the first year, he brought the team victory in the Championship and the Cup of the country. Despite the desire of the Legia leadership to continue cooperation, Cherchesov terminated the contract and returned to Russia.
In August 2016, he was appointed head coach of the Russian national team and began coaching the national team for the home world championship.
Suffice it to say that it was Cherchesov who was entrusted with raising the Russian national team after the failed performance of the Leonid Slutsky team at Euro 2016.
It was Cherchesov who had the honor of preparing the Russian team for the 2018 World Cup, which, as you know, was entrusted to Russia. Ivan Urgant even launched a comic flash mob in his show, urging fans to post photos with a mustache and the hashtag #adopted, hinting at an integral attribute of the coach’s appearance.
And the team that hosted the championship showed outstanding results: a victory over Saudi Arabia (5:0), Egypt (3:1), a loss to Uruguay (3:0), but Russia reached the playoffs for the first time and defeated Spain on penalties . True, in the 1/4 finals, Russia unfortunately lost to Croatia on penalties, after which a flurry of popular anger fell on Fedor Smolov, who performed unsuccessfully … But the fans were proud of the team’s success. But Cherchesov, speaking about the sports component of the victory, was dissatisfied with the results.
The coach considered the defeat of Russia in the match with Serbia, which took place as part of the UEFA League in November 2024, a big failure. The game ended with the score 5:0. This is the team’s worst result in recent years. Commenting on the result of the game, Cherchesov acknowledged the superiority of the opponent:
It is worth being objective: the Serbs were fresher, better – they deservedly won. On the other hand, there was no movement that we should have.
Personal life of Stanislav Cherchesov
Little is known about the personal life of the Russian coach. Stanislav Cherchesov got married in the early 90s, and still lives happily with his wife Alla Cherchesova. The couple have two children – daughter Madina (born in 1992) and son Stanislav (born in 1994).
In the photo: Stanislav Cherchesov and his wife Alla
Stanislav Cherchesov Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps. In 2016, he was the goalkeeper of the youth team of the Dynamo football club.
Goalkeeper Stanislav Cherchesov and his son Stanislav Cherchesov Jr.
Stanislav Cherchesov now
The RFU contract with Cherchesov was valid until the end of 2024. However, after Russia’s unsuccessful performance at Euro 2024 in the summer of 2024, Cherchesov ceased to be the coach of the Russian national football team.
Russia met in the group with Belgium, Finland and Denmark, but managed to beat only Finland – with a score of 1:0 (the goal was scored by Alexei Miranchuk). Belgium beat the Russian team with a score of 3:0, and Denmark with a score of 4:1 (Cherchesov called this game the best game in Russia).
At that time, a table with the salaries of the coaches of the national teams scattered around the network. It turned out that Cherchesov received 2.4 million euros a year, which made him the fifth in the ranking of the most expensive coaches. The salaries of coaches in Belgium, Denmark and Finland amounted to 1.2, 0.27 and 0.19 million euros respectively.
After Russia left the championship, Cherchesov held a press conference, during which he made it clear that he was not going to resign:
We are engaged in a difficult and state business. National team coach – a public position in which you need to serve <...> Was the job deemed unsatisfactory? I would object, because in my understanding, work and result are two different things. The work was done.
However, on July 8, the RFU announced that Cherchesov no longer holds the position of head coach of the Russian national team. Valery Karpin became the new coach.
After his dismissal, Cherchesov negotiated with the Hungarian football club Ferencvárosi (“Fentserváros”) and in December 2024 he headed it.