Pärnu brave (“Vaprus” literally translated from Estonian – courage) ended the season as the league’s last, and it was Kalashnikov who left them there.
According to the sporting principle, the team should spend the next season one step lower, however, as Viljandi’s Tulevik retreated from the top league due to financial difficulties, Vaprus will retain its place in the Estonian Premier League next season.
Kalashnikov took the helm of Tartu’s Tammeka in September and did so with the sole aim of securing a place in the Premier League. At that time, the Tartu team was in the last position of the table, two points behind “Vaprus”.
Kalashnikov’s first three matches on the new bench ended unsuccessfully, but after a national team break in October, the team managed to fight well and make an excellent season cut. In five games, 12 out of 15 possible points were won, and before the last round, a place in the replay was guaranteed, ie the opportunity to keep the record of the highest division.
Symbolically, in the last round of the league, Tammeka acknowledged the superiority of Vaprus (2: 3), but that was not enough to reach Tartu footballers in the overall standings of the tournament. In the playoffs, Tammeka broke Tallinn’s Kalev’s dream of returning to the top league with a 3: 0 match.
Kalashnikov has also managed to work with Kalev – in the 2020 season, he will be the assistant coach first, but later also the head coach. He has also previously led the Narva Trans and Kuressaare teams, so Vaprus will be his fifth club in Estonia since January 2019.
In Latvia, a resident of Liepaja has not been officially in the position of head coach, but has performed as an assistant in Jelgava and Spartak in Jurmala, while in 2012 he headed Liepājas metalurgs as head coach, including in the European League qualifiers against Warsaw Legia. with 2: 2 played at home and 1: 5 unconditional loss.
Kalashnikov has also been the head coach of the second team of the nominal team of Liepaja “Rainbow” for several years, the team fighting at the top of the 1st league table.
