Spartak look to Starkovs
Monday, August 30, 2004
Article summary
Latvia coach Aleksandrs Starkovs has accepted an offer to take charge at Russian club FC Spartak Moskva.
Article body
EURO 2004™ success
Starkovs, who led Latvia on a surprise run to their first major finals at UEFA EURO 2004™, visited Moscow last Thursday for negotiations. He has signed a deal until the end of 2006 and will be officially unveiled as the new head coach of Spartak on 9 September.
CSKA first up
The 49-year-old will leave Skonto, the Latvian champions, next week and is due to lead Spartak into action against the defending champions PFC CSKA Moskva on 11 September. However, Starkovs will stay in charge of Latvian national team at least until the end of the year, and it remains to be clarified whether he will actually leave the post.
Eighth place
Under Scala, Spartak have failed to mount a serious challenge for the European places in Russia's Premier-Liga, and are currently eighth in the table, 12 points behind leaders FC Krylya Sovetov Samara, whom they beat 3-1 at the weekend.
