The team must be hungry for victories and trophies
Saturday, June 28, 2025
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On June 28, legendary goalkeeper and current Shakhtar goalkeeping coach Andrii Piatov celebrates his 41st birthday
– Andrii, happy birthday! What feelings and emotions do you have entering the new year of your life?
– Thank you for the congratulations, it is very nice! I am already used to the fact that almost all my birthdays are spent at training camps, with my football family. I am very happy to be here, at FC Shakhtar – it is a big family for me, my big heart. So I am glad to continue working, to give something to our young, promising goalkeepers, and I am happy to be in the family.
– What goals and plans do you have for this year?
– The main thing is that the team win – we always have only such goals. At Shakhtar, it is like DNA – only victories. So I realise that I have to do everything in my power to ensure that our goalkeepers maintain the level that the club has maintained for the last 15–20 years.
– How did the team congratulate you? Maybe one of the players or coaches said something funny?
– Of course, there is no football without humour, so the guys, although young, might also poke fun at you. Today they had a very good running work, and I thank the head coach and the entire staff for this gift for me: I stood and watched the guys run, and did nothing myself.
– By the way, about the new coaching staff and the head coach: what can you say about working together, what new things did they bring to the training process?
– Every coach is an individual, and his staff is his strength, as they say. I respect every coach I have worked with. And I can say that I integrated into this coaching staff very easily: they respect me, which is nice, and I respect everyone – starting from the head coach to every assistant. My colleague, goalkeeping coach Emrah, and I got along well, and the most important thing is that we have similar ideas. It is easier to integrate into the team when there is one common idea, a common direction, and we, the goalkeeping coaches, have very similar views on work.
– What are Arda Turan’s main requirements, and your requirements, in particular, for the players?
– As for the main thing, he needs drive. As they say, football is alive, and here you need to fight for your confidence and individuality on every centimetre, to show that this is my zone. And the coach wants to convey this to the players: that they should die on the field for what they love. Nowadays, there are players who think that they have to do nothing but play football, but football is such a thing that if you do not show strength, do not demonstrate the desire to achieve something, then you will not reach top positions.
– What kind of team do you want to see in the first official match, but also throughout the season?
– Hungry one. Hungry for trophies, for their game, for victories. Because Shakhtar has always been such a winning machine, we have been dominating in the last 15–20 years, but you see what happened: third place is a sign. Therefore we have to think and be hungry for victories again so that this does not happen again.
– Since it is your birthday today, we would like to ask: what is your dearest wish?
– I thought about this a lot today, but I realised that we all have one wish – peace. And I would like to thank the guys who protect us and allow us to believe in the future and believe that we and our children will be able to celebrate their birthdays. Including me, I know many of those who are at the front line now, so I bow low to our defenders and thank them.
– Thank you for the congratulations, it is very nice! I am already used to the fact that almost all my birthdays are spent at training camps, with my football family. I am very happy to be here, at FC Shakhtar – it is a big family for me, my big heart. So I am glad to continue working, to give something to our young, promising goalkeepers, and I am happy to be in the family.
– What goals and plans do you have for this year?
– The main thing is that the team win – we always have only such goals. At Shakhtar, it is like DNA – only victories. So I realise that I have to do everything in my power to ensure that our goalkeepers maintain the level that the club has maintained for the last 15–20 years.
– How did the team congratulate you? Maybe one of the players or coaches said something funny?
– Of course, there is no football without humour, so the guys, although young, might also poke fun at you. Today they had a very good running work, and I thank the head coach and the entire staff for this gift for me: I stood and watched the guys run, and did nothing myself.
– By the way, about the new coaching staff and the head coach: what can you say about working together, what new things did they bring to the training process?
– Every coach is an individual, and his staff is his strength, as they say. I respect every coach I have worked with. And I can say that I integrated into this coaching staff very easily: they respect me, which is nice, and I respect everyone – starting from the head coach to every assistant. My colleague, goalkeeping coach Emrah, and I got along well, and the most important thing is that we have similar ideas. It is easier to integrate into the team when there is one common idea, a common direction, and we, the goalkeeping coaches, have very similar views on work.
– What are Arda Turan’s main requirements, and your requirements, in particular, for the players?
– As for the main thing, he needs drive. As they say, football is alive, and here you need to fight for your confidence and individuality on every centimetre, to show that this is my zone. And the coach wants to convey this to the players: that they should die on the field for what they love. Nowadays, there are players who think that they have to do nothing but play football, but football is such a thing that if you do not show strength, do not demonstrate the desire to achieve something, then you will not reach top positions.
– What kind of team do you want to see in the first official match, but also throughout the season?
– Hungry one. Hungry for trophies, for their game, for victories. Because Shakhtar has always been such a winning machine, we have been dominating in the last 15–20 years, but you see what happened: third place is a sign. Therefore we have to think and be hungry for victories again so that this does not happen again.
– Since it is your birthday today, we would like to ask: what is your dearest wish?
– I thought about this a lot today, but I realised that we all have one wish – peace. And I would like to thank the guys who protect us and allow us to believe in the future and believe that we and our children will be able to celebrate their birthdays. Including me, I know many of those who are at the front line now, so I bow low to our defenders and thank them.