Idman.biz
Yuri Vernidub, the head coach of the Baku "Neftchi" football club, had to publicly explain the situation regarding the cooperation between the Azerbaijani club and Moscow's "Lokomotiv" club.
According to Idman.Biz, it became known that in mid-December 2025, the Lokomotiv Academy signed international cooperation agreements with the academies of Neftchi and Minsk Dynamo.
The memorandum envisages the exchange of experience in the training of young football players, participation in tournaments in Azerbaijan, Belarus and Russia, internships for coaches, educational projects and the development of children's and youth football.
Against this background, Y. Vernidub, taking into account his civic position, was forced to express his attitude to the agreement in question.
"Journalists artificially inflated the information. Some media outlets wrote that I was supposedly going to Moscow. This is unbelievable. This cooperation agreement was signed between children's academies. This is the right of the club. What does this have to do with me? There is not a single Russian in our main team. Only Azerbaijanis play in the youth teams. Here I communicate in Ukrainian and the translator conveys my words to the players or my interlocutor," Sport.ua quotes Vernidub.
It should be noted that Yuri Vernidub was appointed head coach of Neftchi on December 9, 2025. On January 22, 2026, the Ukrainian specialist will turn 60 years old.
