Belarus bring in Khatskevich as coach

Aleksandr Khatskevich has been installed as the new coach of Belarus, nearly two months after the resignation of Georgi Kondratiev.

Khatskevich, 41, has previously coached the likes of FC Dinamo Minsk and FC Dynamo Kyiv reserves; he also spent most of his playing career with those two clubs. He won four titles in Belarus and seven in Ukraine and was part of the Dynamo team that reached the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, losing 4-3 on aggregate to FC Bayern München.

In both 1998 and 2000, Khatskevich was named the best player in Belarus. He scored four goals in 38 appearances for his country before hanging up his boots in 2007. Khatskevich has since held coaching positions with Dinamo Minsk, FC Vitebsk and Belarus Under-18s, as well as assisting the Ukraine national side and overseeing the Dynamo reserves.

"It was a great offer and I accepted," the former midfielder said of his latest post. "Of course I have followed my native country's national team as a fan all this time. What I can assure you is that we will not play with five defenders, no matter who our opponents are. Our goal in the European Qualifiers is to go as far as we can – every game is a new challenge for us. The most important thing is to make our game stable so the team know how to act on the pitch."

Kondratiev stepped down after Belarus picked up only one point from their first three UEFA EURO 2016 qualifiers. Andrei Zygmantovich took over as interim coach for the 3-0 Group C defeat by Spain and the 3-2 friendly victory against Mexico.