Belarus opt for Baidachny

Double life
The 50-year-old Russian will lead the team in their two remaining UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifiers next month, although he will combine national-team duties with club ones until the Belarussian league season ends in October. He will then leave Dinamo, who are second in the First Division, to take up his new post on a full-time basis.

First choice
The Belarus Football Federation revealed their choice today after lengthy consultations. Baidachny was one of several candidates to replace Eduard Malofeev, who resigned in June after a run of five defeats in six EURO 2004™ qualifiers left Belarus second from bottom of Group 3. Other names in the hat included Anatoly Byshovets, Oleg Romantsev, Boris Ignatyev and Joseph Hovanets.

National pride
Baidachy, who led Dinamo to the championship in 1997 before returning to the club earlier this year, said: "We must build a new team. I am against experimenting with the national team, where only the best players should play regardless of age. But they must have the feeling that they really want to play for their country."

Pick of players
A former Dinamo Minsk player too, he added of his new project: "There are three types of player I want to see in the Belarus national team - foreign-based Belarussian players; home-based ones; and finally footballers from various Eastern European countries who are still not capped by their national teams. Should they have an appropriate desire and skill to play for Belarus, they are always welcome." Belarus will end their EURO 2004™ campaign with matches at home against the Czech Republic on 6 September and away against Moldova four days later.