Pakhomov the man for Kazakhstan
Friday, December 20, 2002
Article summary
Leonid Pakhomov has been named as the new coach of Kazakhstan, UEFA's newest member association.
Article body
World Cup hope
Pakhomov, the former Russia Under-21 coach, has agreed a four-year deal which will see him guide the team through qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Kazakhstan just missed the deadline for the 2004 UEFA European Championship.
Tough task
"He has been given a tough task to guide Kazakhstan to the 2006 World Cup finals," Tlek Akpayev, vice-president of the Kazakhstan Football Union, said. The 59-year-old Pakhomov had held various coaching positions since leaving the Russian U21 team at the end of 1999.
Previous achievements
Kazakhstan, which is five times the size of France but with just 15 million people, reached the second phase of Asia's FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament in 1997 and the finals of the FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria in 1999.
