Yuri Semin
Date of Birth: 11.05.1947
Place of Birth. Education. Born in Orenburg (Russia). In 1982, he graduated from the coaching school.
Player Career. He became interested in football at the age of 12. In his youth, he played for Lokomotiv (Orel). His career began in 1965 in Moscow, when Yuri Semin played for the youth team of the RSFSR at a tournament of young talents of the USSR republics. The young player was noticed by the football 'bosses' of the capital and transferred to Moscow Spartak.
Besides Spartak, he played for the Moscow teams Dynamo, Lokomotiv, Almaty Kairat, Novosibirsk Chkalovets, and Krasnodar Kuban. He was captain at Lokomotiv, Chkalovets, and Kuban.
In total, Yuri Semin played 280 matches in the USSR championship as a forward and midfielder and scored 39 goals. In 1970, he was awarded as a silver medalist of the USSR championship with Dynamo and as a winner of the USSR Cup.
His playing career ended in 1980 in Krasnodar after several serious injuries.
Coaching Career. After graduating from the coaching school, Yuri Semin returned to Kuban as a coach. He then coached Pamir (Dushanbe). From 1986 to 2005, he was the coach of Lokomotiv Moscow (with a brief interruption in 1990 when he was an advisor to the New Zealand Olympic team). In Soviet times, he was appointed Honored Coach of the Russian Federation (1989) and of the Tajik SSR (1985).
Semin's name is associated with a second life for Lokomotiv and its rise to one of the best football clubs in Russia. Back in 1986, the coach took over a team that had been relegated from the first league to the second. Under Yuri Semin's leadership, Lokomotiv became the Russian champion (2002), silver medalist of the Russian championships (1995, 1999, 2000, 2001), bronze (1994, 1998), winner of the Russian Cup (1996, 1997, 2000, 2001), finalist of the USSR Cup (1990), and semi-finalist of the Cup Winners' Cup (1998, 1999).
From 1992 to 1994 and from 1996 to 1999, Yuri Semin also coached the Russian national team. In April 2005, he accepted the offer to head the national team and left Lokomotiv. However, just six months later, after the Russian team unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for the World Cup finals in Germany, the head coach resigned.
At the beginning of 2006, he took over the coaching staff of Dynamo Moscow. However, he also resigned after six months after he failed to find common ground with the Dynamo legionnaires. At the invitation of the president of the Russian Railways, he returned to Lokomotiv, this time as club president. Soon after, Semin, who once led the 'railroad workers' to the top of Russian football, was also held responsible for their failure in the Russian championship in 2007. The club finished in 7th place - the worst result in its recent history. After that, Yuri Semin was dismissed along with head coach Anatoly Byshovets.
On December 8, 2007, Yuri Semin was invited as head coach of Dynamo Kyiv (in a critical phase for the club, after a series of defeats in national and international competitions). This news was quite surprising even for football experts. According to club president Igor Surkis, the contract with the new coach was signed for two and a half years plus one year - by agreement. He officially took office on January 8, 2008. According to unofficial information, the coach's salary will amount to 1.5 million euros per year. For comparison, Mircea Lucescu receives 3 million euros at Shakhtar Donetsk, and Oleg Protasov at Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk) - 1 million USD.
As Yuri Semin himself said, who replaced Josef Sabo as coach, he was tasked with winning in every game, in every competition the Dynamo players would participate in. To achieve this goal, the head coach plans to start with a selective selection within the current squad. If that doesn't work, he will look towards the club's youth academy.
In the 2007-2008 season, the Kyiv club finished second in the Ukrainian Premier League after losing to their 'eternal' rivals Shakhtar. A year later, he became the champion.
From June 1, 2009, Yuri Semin again took over Lokomotiv Moscow. The contract was signed until December 31, 2011. However, it was terminated on November 30, 2010, at the request of both parties.
On December 23, 2010, Semin signed a contract with Dynamo Kyiv for three and a half years, but he could not achieve further success. On September 24, 2012, he was dismissed after a series of failures at the Kyiv club.
On May 29, 2013, he became head coach of the Azerbaijani club 'Gabala'. Under the specialist's leadership, the club finished third in the Azerbaijani championship in the 2013/14 season, secured the right to participate in the Europa League in the upcoming season, and reached the final of the national cup. After the season, Semin left the team.
On May 27, 2014, he became the new head coach of 'Mordovia'. The contract was signed for one year with the possibility of extending it for another. The coach emphasized several times that his task was to secure the place of 'Mordovia' in the Premier League, and under his guidance, the team finished eighth (the best result in the club's history). On May 30, 2015, he announced his departure from 'Mordovia'.
On June 18, 2015, Semin took over the newly promoted 'Anzhi' and signed a contract under the '1+1' arrangement. He was dismissed after the 10th matchday when the team was in 15th place in the Russian Premier League table.
On August 26, 2016, he was appointed head coach of Lokomotiv Moscow for the fourth time in his career.
On May 4, 2018, Yuri Semin extended his contract with the club under the '1+1' arrangement. On May 5, 2018, Lokomotiv became the Russian champion for the first time in 14 years under Semin in the 2017/18 season.
On May 22, 2019, Yuri Semin won the Russian Cup for the sixth time in his career. On July 6, 2019, Yuri Semin won the Russian Super Cup for the third time.
On May 14, 2020, the board of Lokomotiv decided not to extend the contract with Semin.
Family. Wife - Lyubov Leonidovna (born 1948). Son - Andrey (born 1969), graduate of the coaching school, was the coach of the Lokomotiv reserve, then became the coach of the second Russian division in IzhEVSK Engineering-LP 'SOYUZ-Gazprom'.
10.05.2022.