A New Giant In Europe: BATE Borisov

Some good updates recently I need to start following this more regularly now

2013-09-07 19:16#134010 Rablador : Congratulations mate, never would have been able to tell they weren't done on PS, they look great!

And, I concur, ooh ah Samaras say ooh ah Samaras

http://25.media.tumblr.com/7fe609923bff4e223e6ff8449e074035/tumblr_mh0nbar18d1qcl2xao1_400.gif

Lol, thanks m8 Took me hours to do some of them

2013-09-07 19:35#134016 wellsy1498 : Some good updates recently I need to start following this more regularly now

Thanks I didn't play the game this week but I'm just opening FM so I will update soon

Tuesday was a very busy day for BATE and their manager Andrei Kapski. During the journey, 12 players joined Borisov and the club spend 52M€! One of these players was coming from England and two others from Scotland.

They are Bradley Wright-Phillips (Charlton, 60K€), Beram Kayal (Celtic, 7M€) and Lee Wallace (3.1M€). 1998 World Cup winner, Robert Pirès, also joined the Belarusian club on a free transfer.

"I'm very happy with all the arrivals, declared Andrei Kapski. We have signed 90% of the targeted players and a few more deals will be completed before the end of the week. Then we will start to think seriously of departure. For now we signed: two strikers, one winger for each side, an attacking midfielder, one central midfielder, three defensive midfielders an a left back. We are actually talking with two other striker, two central defenders, two right backs, and a central midfield. This mean there will be strikers, attacking and defensive midfielders, and a right back leaving the club."

When asked if there will be any "World Class" players joining, the gaffer replied: "Wright-Philips, Lee Wallace and Thierry Doubaï are world class players at Belarusian level. So yes, there will be other world class player joining!"

Sky Sport asked to Anatoliy Kapski, the club chairman, what was his thoughts on his brother signing and he answered: "I know Andrei is doing good choices. All the signing he made are very interesting and I just expect him to get ride of the surplus of players quickly."

I never liked Kayal, anyway...take him.
Nice signings, always had a soft spot for Pires but not sure he'll be good now!

Nice staff transfers! Keep it up!

Today, BATE bought nine players for a total cost of 41M€. One of these player broke the highest fee record set yesterday by Olexandr Aliev. The new record is now 14.75M€ for Bursaspor striker Sebastian Pinto who scored 16 league goals during the first part of the Turkish season.

"Pinto will be the one leading our attack next season, told us Andrei Kapski. He is an incredible finisher, and all the premier league goalkeepers will hate him."
The club also signed several youth prospect as 18 years old striker Luka Djordjevic from Zenith (10.75M€) or the French left back Mathieu Olejnic, 17 years old.

Yowza! That's some big spending! How far do you think that team will get you in Europe?

2013-09-21 07:15#135369 Arvind : Yowza! That's some big spending! How far do you think that team will get you in Europe?

With this team, I won't pass the group stage, unless I have a very (very) lucky draw, but I hope to increase our reputation and to be a serious contender for at least quarter finals in about three seasons

During the last 5 days, BATE Borisov spend over 100M£ on transfers. Andrei Kapski declared that they manage to bring in the squad all their targets.
"It was hard work but I'm happy because we manage to finish it quickly. Everyone in the club worked very hard to have all these transfers completed and now we have to start sealing the surplus to requirement. Sixteen players have been transfer listed."

But how do fans react to all these changes? Here are several reaction from club's loyals supporters.

"We are spending a lot of money and some players don't seem that good but we have confidence in Andrei and his choices so we will wait and see what they do on the pitch."

"The problem is that three-quarters of the players from the former squad seems to be transfer listed and even if we still don't know who is going away, there will surely be a lot of disappointment."

"I think the best signing we made is goalkeeper Marian Keleman. He has a lot of experience and the defence can rely on him. I also like the young players we signed. It proves that Kapski has a long-term vision of the club. And there is a mix of young and experienced players in our squad, this is positive. We even have a World Cup winner (Robert Pirès, France 1998)!"


It is true that BATE Borisov squad is a mix of youngsters and experienced players but it was already the case before Kapski and Kapski arrivals.

A notable change is the number of foreign in the team. In fact BATE didn't have any before the two brothers took charge of the club. But in one week 30 players with 24 different nationalities joined the team.

According to Vitali Kutuzov, a former BATE's striker (55 goals in 99 games between 1998 and 2001), this can only be negative.
"Having so many players speaking so many different language and arriving at the same time at a club where the language [Russian] is very difficult for foreign can only be bad.

"Everyone will have to adapt to the country and when you come from Spain or Portugal it isn't easy at all.

"In addition to that, Andrei Kapski is intending to sell nearly all the players who know the language, the country and the team.

"Many of them have won several league titles with club and throwing them away like that just because you have money and you want everyone to know it by spending it all on weak players is a lack of respect. Andrei Kapski isn't respecting the club who formed him and helped him have the career he had [45 caps, 11 goals]!"

Yesterday game between BATE Borisov and FC Vitebsk was the kick-off of a new area in Belarusian football and maybe even European football.
The club who won the last five Belarusian High League title started the game with a new chairman, a new manager, a new coaching staff and 11 new players on the pitch plus 12 other new players on the bench.

All of them joined in the past 3 weeks and it was their first appearance for a game.
So this friendly against Vitebsk, a Belarusian First League team (second division), was followed by medias from all over the world.

"Today game won't be easy as the team never played together and nearly never trained together so I won't really be disappointed if we aren't able to win, declared BATE's gaffer, Andrei Kapski. But the benefit of having a season starting in April is that all the players we signed are already fully fit and we can make the team cohesion our main focus. In three weeks we should be ready for our first league game [31th March]."


The starting line-up included Sebastian Pinto, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Robert Pirès and Beram Kayal. And after 28 minutes the former Celtic player missed a crucial back pass to his keeper and Vitebsk striker Orochko exploited well the error and gave the lead to the underdogs.

BATE was dominating the game and keeping possession of the ball, yet, they didn't manage to threaten their opponent's defence. And at the 54th minute Vitebsk scored another goal on a well played counter attack.

Kapski then decided to bring fresh players on the pitch, most of them were under 21. But it was 30 years old Nigerian Yakubu who scored BATE first and only goal of the game at the 73rd minute.



Andrei Kapski told us he wouldn't be disappointed if the team didn't win but what did he think of the game?
"The players who started the game didn't seem motivated to play and I'm not happy at all with that. If you love football, you play the best you can do every day!

"The players who came in for the second half wanted to play. They all proved they had the quality to be in the starting 11 even if they couldn't make us win the game. The players who won't meet my expectation at the end of the preseason will be released! Even if we paid 14,75M€ to buy them [Sebastian Pinto price]."

BATE Borisov have now three days to prepare their Super Cup match against Naftan Novopolotsk. They will then have three friendlies before the league kicks-off.