MOSCOW, May 26 (RIA Novosti) - Former CSKA trainer Valery Gazzayev has signed a three-year contract to manage the new Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kiev, the club said on its website.
Gazzayev, 54, had long been linked with the post. He will take over from Russian compatriot Yury Syomin, who looks set to return to Lokomotiv Moscow.
Dynamo Kiev finished Ukrainian Premier League runners-up in the 2007-2008 season before claiming this year's title. They also reached the semifinals of this season's UEFA Cup, losing to fellow Ukrainian side and eventual winners, Shakhtar Donetsk.
Gazzayev first took over at CSKA in 2001, but despite winning the domestic league in 2003 he was sacked for failing to take the team into the lucrative Champions League group stages. However, a year later, he was invited back and, obviously not a man to hold a grudge, immediately won the Russian Premier League, the Russian Cup and the UEFA Cup for the former Red Army side.
The spectacularly-mustachioed coach stepped down as coach of CSKA in November after the end of the 2008 season, citing "tiredness." He was replaced by Brazilian football legend Zico as trainer.
