Oleg Shatov: a Russian winger with a Brazilian touch thanks to futsal
This article is part of the Guardian’s Euro 2016 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for France. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 10 June.
Most professional footballers have followed a certain path on their way to the top – for example, training outdoors from a young age and usually playing on full-size football pitches with natural grass. Any other kind of grounding immediately raises eyebrows and Oleg Shatov is certainly unusual in that respect. His career began playing futsal in the central Russian city of Nizhny Tagil.
“I was 16 when I had to make the choice between futsal and football,” says Shatov. “We do not play football during winter in Nizhny Tagil – the conditions are unsuitable, there is a lot of snow and it’s very cold. So I played futsal, because there seemed to be better prospects.
“I signed my first professional contract with an indoor team called Viz-Sinara, and from there FC Ural took me on loan. These clubs are both from Ekaterinburg and have the same president, which helped me a lot.”
Today, however, Shatov is one of the leaders of the Russian national team and arguably their main reason for going into the tournament hopeful, especially after the injury to Alan Dzagoev. The 25-year-old has made outstanding progress for club and country in the past three years and for Zenit, he now operates on the same level as the team’s star, Hulk, impressing in the Champions League, having benefited from the head coach André Villas-Boas’ willingness to let him improvise.
His past in futsal has certainly played a part in making him such a success. Playing the game taught him how to go past players and operate within very little space, and gave him a Brazilian-style technique to go with his pace and crossing ability.
Futsal, in many ways, is a different sport to football. The player’s joints and ligaments work in a different way indoors and a player needs different ways and patterns of moving with and without the ball. Shatov, who combined football and futsal between the age of 14 and 17, has these skills and understands how to use them on a football pitch. His physique and atleticism set him apart from other players, and always will.
Shatov, who used to watch videos of Zinedine Zidane as a child and would try to replicate the France playmaker’s set of skills, played more than 100 times for Ural in the second division. The supporters took to him instantly, and he was named their player of the year in 2010, although it was still a surprise when Russia’s top clubs began to target him. CSKA Moscow were interested, but eventually he chose Anzhi Makhachkala – whose squad included Samuel Eto’o at the time and would later add Willian – in 2012.
It quickly became apparent that Shatov was completely at home in such company. He thrived at Anzhi with some brilliant performances and was called up to the national team by the then coach Fabio Capello in the spring of 2013, promptly scoring on his debut in a 2-0 win over Iceland.
Anzhi’s boom years were short-lived and Shatov was among those to be culled in their fire sale of summer 2013. Zenit were quickly in for him and his development since then has been even more staggering. Russia have many talented players but few as dedicated as Shatov, a true professional who trains properly and looks after himself off the pitch.
Yet he has not quite avoided controversy. Shatov does not enjoy giving interviews and perhaps his lack of experience showed recently when, during a rare one, he may have said a little too much.
“Everyone thinks players are spoilt by money,” he said. “The job of a professional football is a hard one – harder than those of journalists and harder than many other professions. We train every day for three or four hours, and I don’t know what to compare it to – perhaps only machine work at a factory. Perhaps only in that kind of job are people more tired than we are.”
There was some backlash but most people realise that Shatov, deep down, is not a spoilt brat. It recently transpired that he will spend 15 million rubles (£155,000) on a new football pitch in Nizhny Tagil, where he plans to open a football school. The pitch should be built this year and Shatov’s intention is to help local youngsters develop as players and people.
“Oleg is a generous man, ready to help his friends and family,” his father said recently. “He wants to build a football pitch in his home town so that the local boys will have a place to go. He grew up in the suburbs, where there are many hooligans; and if the young people grow into good people, then all is not in vain.”
One of Shatov’s friends at Zenit is the defender Igor Smolnikov. Their wives are also close, and six months ago they launched a charitable “Play and help” project together, aimed at helping children in need. In October 2015 they held their first charity auction in St Petersburg, raising more than 15m rubles.
“We want to involve as many footballers, hockey players, basketball players and volleyball players in our project,” said Shatov’s wife, Victoria. “Our goal is to attract people to the theme of philanthropy. Our board of trustees already involves [the ice hockey player] Ilya Kovalchuk and his wife Nicole, and we are now negotiating with [the boxer] Roy Jones Jr, who recently received Russian citizenship.”
It is clear that Shatov is an achiever more than than a dreamer – a down-to-earth character who will never forget where he came from. “Let the dreams remain dreams,” he said when asked if he could see himself featuring in a clásico match for the team he supports, Real Madrid, one day. “I prefer not to dream but to set goals. I know that one day I’ll wear the Ural shirt again, as I’ve promised myself that. Ural is my second home. I was raised there – as a footballer and as a person.”
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