Viktor Bulatov is a football player who began his career in the Soviet Union. However, he achieved the greatest success already in the Russian championship as part of the Moscow “Spartak”.
Chelyabinsk nugget
Viktor Bulatov, whose family lived in one of the poorest
regions of Chelyabinsk, was born in 1972. In this city, the boy began to play football. With the team of the Chelyabinsk boarding school, he participated in all-Russian competitions. After the tournament in Kaliningrad, Moscow scouts noticed him and invited him to continue his football education in the capital's boarding school.
He got his first victory in 1988: at the age of 16, Bulatov became the champion of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR as part of the RSFSR team. The tournament was held on the Volga, in Nizhny Novgorod. In 1990 he was in the Astrakhan "Volgar".
For two seasons in this team, he spent 94 matches, in which he scored 26 goals. Bulatov already at that time began to play the position of an attacking midfielder, differing in enviable performance.
In the big leagues
A promising player could not help but notice. In 1994, he transferred to the Stavropol Dynamo. At that time it was a Major League team. Bulatov Victor Gennadevich proved himself to be a good player in the new team, in which he spent 14 matches, scored 3 times. True, the game itself, “Dynamo” that season did not please. In a bitter struggle, the Stavropolites took only the last but one place and left the elite division.
True, Viktor Bulatov did not go downhill after the team. In the offseason, Samara “Wings of the Soviets” acquired it. In the city on the Volga, Victor spent three seasons. True, in 1995 his club again became the penultimate, but this time, thanks to the regulations, he did not leave the Premier League (only one team took off that season).
Bulatov spent 1998 in the Moscow Torpedo, becoming the top scorer with 9 goals. Immediately after this achievement was followed by an invitation to the Moscow “Spartak”.
Golden period
In “Spartak” Bulatov 3 years in a row becomes the champion of the country, while three times getting into the list of 33 best players in the championship. For example, in 1999 he was recognized as the second left central defender of the season after Igor Chugainov. And in 2000 - the best central midfielder of the year.
In the 2000/2001 season, Viktor Bulatov successfully performs as a member of the “red-white” in European competitions. In the Champions League, “Spartak” begins immediately with the group stage and with a home victory over Leverkusen “Bayer” 2-0. Then, after losing to Santiago Bernabeu from Real Madrid, he beat Lisbon Sporting twice (3: 1 and 3: 0). Thanks to this success, “Spartak” in many ways secured a second place in the group and an exit to the second group stage. It was not possible to continue a successful performance here, having suffered 4 defeats in 6 matches, Muscovites took the last place.
In the national team
From 1998 to 2001, Bulatov was involved in the games for the national team. He made his debut in the notorious friendly match with the Brazilians, in which the Russians lost 1: 5. In just 3 years, he appeared on the field in a T-shirt of the national team 6 times.
He played matches against teams from Belarus, Iceland, Ukraine and Slovakia, including qualifying games for the European Championship.
Coaching career
After leaving Spartak, Bulatov again played in Wings, then for the Grozny Terek, Vladikavkaz Alania, Astana, and the Khabarovsk SKA Energy. Finished his professional career in Moscow “Torpedo” in 2009, Victor Bulatov.
The coach from him turned out to be quite good. The first significant success was achieved in the team of the Second Dnepr Division from Smolensk. He joined the club in 2010 to replace the former mentor Armen Adamyan. He managed to put the game on, achieved some success, but due to a conflict with the leadership he was forced to leave the club. At the end of the season, the team, having only regained its professional status, took 10th place.
After being fired from Smolensk, Bulatov entered the headquarters of Khimki near Moscow, becoming an assistant coach. And in October 2012, he independently began to work at the head of the Penza Zenit, who also played in the second division.
For one season, our hero coached the youth composition of the Tula Arsenal. June 15, 2015 he became the head of the main adult team, replacing Dmitry Alenichev, who moved to the Moscow “Spartak”. In Tula, Bulatov worked as a head coach for six months, after which he was dismissed, despite the fact that the team showed an effective and efficient game, at that time it was in 3rd place in the First Division. Arsenal was faced with the task of returning to the Premier League, the club management considered that more experienced Sergei Pavlov would better cope with it . By the way, the latter all worked out.
In May 2016, Viktor Bulatov headed the Moscow “Torpedo”, which has not been playing in the Premier League for a long time, moreover, it regained its professional status only a few years ago. Now “car manufacturers” are playing in the Second Division in the “Center” zone. The team demonstrates a good game, like all the teams that Bulatov undertook to train. It is included in the group of leaders and, according to experts, it may well compete for a victory in its zone, and, therefore, for a ticket to the First Division.