The Zvezda Stadium
We compete in the Russian Women’s Premier League. The level of competition is very good, players are technically very sound, and premium is placed on tactical discipline. We play in the Zvezda Stadium, capacity 20,000 (pictured).
Zvezda and Rossiyanka are considered the top two teams with majority of Russia WNT players in the two sides. Russia has two places in the UEFA Women’s Champions League (CL) and both us and Rossiyanka have qualified for the 2010 CL.
Champions League is one of the main reasons I was keen on moving to Russia. I would submit that CL is the best women’s club competition in the world.
Playing in any league, teams know their opponents very well, get in a routine and at times the excitement is not there. For the best teams in Europe, CL represents an opportunity to face opponents with different playing styles, philosophies, and of higher abilities than they routinely face in their domestic leagues.
When Zvezda faced Norwegian league and cup winners Roa IL, our opponents had in their squad 11 players with at least 1 international cap for Norway.
Zvezda starters
For our home game we had about 3,000 fans, and they were LOUD. (Singing, flag waving, flares are part and parcel of our games). It was fun, and I can’t wait till we get going again.
Our daily routine is rather simple. Players get in the lockeroom around 10:00AM. Training starts at 11:00AM.
At 1:00PM we have lunch in the stadium cafeteria – food is quality and plentiful.
We train again at 6:00PM and eat dinner around 7:45PM.
Our stadium has artificial, heated turf of the highest quality and is very well maintained by the stadium crew.
Our nearest league opponent is located about 700 miles away, so we fly to all of our games. The club owns two buses, but we rarely use them except to take us to the airport and back.
Our current staff includes a GM, equipment person, a full time sports medicine doctor, a full time masseur, a video guy, me, Kaloyan, and two Russian assistant coaches.
Life in Russia, though different, is good. Food is relatively inexpensive and of very good quality, while electronics and clothing are much more expensive than in the US.
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20000 seats