Source: www.rucriminal.info
We continue to publish an interview with the famous football referee Sergei Khusainov, which he gave especially for the VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info. Journalist Alexey Matveyev spoke with him.
- Once I was forced to take part in an unsightly, criminal story with showdowns in the refereeing environment, - Sergei Khusainov continues his story. - It was not very pleasant. The story, as they say, matured beyond the edge of the football field. And literally behind my back. Which I did not expect at all. I am a well-known person in the football world, and here is a criminal case, they called me in for questioning...
- Did you referee Cherepovets? - the investigator asked me during interrogation in the Petrovka building, but not in house 38, but 26. - You were in Sochi for training.
"I was, I answer. - And what is so forbidden or criminal about it?" - I ask, not without a grain of irony, in turn.
Teams from different leagues were preparing for the season in Sochi, a common practice. Well, they held friendly matches among themselves. The cunning administrator of Cherepovets took advantage of the situation. This football, or rather, football-related figure from Cherepovets came up with a story about matches for money, although such games did not exist in nature. It is clear that he wanted to, as they say, "cut some money out of thin air." He collected, imagine, money from team representatives, allegedly recorded it somewhere. How it ended, I am sorry. I do not know whether the Cherepovets "craftsman" was jailed or not, I do not know, I did not follow the story further...
- I remember our literary exploits with you, and I am not the only one who remembers, - continues Sergey Khusainov. - Back in the distant 89th, we published a sensational article at that time with the telling headline "A Limousine for Two Points." The background is crystal clear: I was really promised crazy money for that time for the victory of one of the teams in a specific match. And also a brand new car as a bonus.
All that was required was "a little help" during the match, well, to set a penalty, other sports-related things. They even promised to bring a car to the house on Taganka in Moscow, where I lived. Normal, right? I remember, I "sent" those dealers far away - it's disgusting even to hear such things as a human being and professionally. Well, you and I published it then.
And after that memorable interview, which became a super-scandalous one, I was dragged through all sorts of authorities. As if it was not the dealers of various stripes, but I myself who broke the law. Of course, the feelings were not pleasant. No matter, I fought back. Soon, however, I left refereeing. Both because of my age, and especially because of the intolerant atmosphere around me after what I said to you in the interview.
"Condemned" for that interview, I read in the views of even those who are close to me in spirit. Not all, of course, but many. I remember that only one famous referee in the past, Alexander Vasilyevich Tabakov, supported him: "It will take many years before people understand how right Khusainov was," the master of our refereeing said then.
- Well, and how, in your opinion, did they understand?
- Hardly. I judge by those negative events in current Russian football. Nothing is changing for the better, and the situation, in my opinion, is only getting worse. The game itself, the facts of the negative are sometimes so obvious that nothing can be hidden. Alas, in my opinion, it is only getting worse.
- You developed a peculiar relationship with the then FIFA president Joseph Blatter. It seemed like he shook your hand when we met, and patted you on the cheek, as if he was greeting you warmly. But in fact, he behaved dishonestly, in fact, he sent you into retirement. Why do you think this happened?
- Blatter is a peculiar person. Yes, I was listed as a candidate to referee the 1994 World Cup in America. I was jubilant inside, I would referee in the States too! But my joy was premature. "We don't need you at the World Cup in America," Blatter himself told me later when we met. "We have already seen for ourselves that you are not part of our system."
I didn't get any specific explanations from the FIFA boss. And I considered it beneath my dignity to ask and ask again why and for what reason. Let the readers draw their own conclusions. In my opinion, it is clear: I did not fit into the "value system" of the FIFA and UEFA bosses. It is clear which ones.
In this regard, I remembered almost a joke from the very real life of a football referee. After the match, the coach of the losing team comes into the room under the stands. And somewhat philosophically, he says to the referee who was working the match literally the following: "You are not to blame for our defeat. The one who gave you the whistle to work as a referee is to blame." Here is the key to the system that prepares future football referees for such "work". This is the notorious system of training domestic referees, tested over decades. It is called "Friend or Foe", I have already mentioned it.
- The coaches who work today themselves participate in this lawlessness - "buy and sell" matches, - claims Sergey Khusainov. - Almost all of them, without exception, participate. And it still continues, doesn't it? Let them try to refute us.
In my memory, there are dozens, if not hundreds of examples, when players from different leagues and teams "chipped in" money for refereeing that was loyal to their team. That is, they paid from under the table "Left" money to referees for the result their team needs in a specific match. What is this if not pure corruption, for the manifestations of which criminal cases should be opened and people should be imprisoned?
- And are there, perhaps, unique individuals in the football environment who challenged the thoroughly corrupt system around football? And, if so, what was their fate, do you know of such cases?
- Imagine, there were and are people who refused to indulge the requests of the mafiosi - to pay "left" money for the result their team needed. Referees, football officials. What is their fate, you ask? Yes, unenviable. Someone is forced to leave their beloved football altogether.
Of course, there were, and I hope there are still specialists who flatly refused to pay "left" money for the result, and why on earth should they do this?! But the mafiosi behind some clubs do not calm down ...
- Are our law enforcement officers "sleeping" or something?
- The question is probably not for me. They have always said, and still say, that the country has enough problems beyond football...
Source: www.rucriminal.info
