First Division giants Real de Banjul FC has confirmed the appointment of Vjatseslav Zahovaiko as head coach and manager for the upcoming season.
The 40-year-old former Estonian footballer takes up the reins of leadership at Real de Banjul after leaving its Estonian partner club, Paide Linnameeskond, on mutual terms in December 2021.
His appointment is part of a technical cooperation with Paide Linnameeskond.
Vjatseslav Zahovaiko, commonly called Slava is a UEFA Pro Licence holder and was responsible for the development and giving chances to two former Real de Banjul players, Alassana Jatta and Muhammed Sanneh, during their time in Paide before their eventual moves to Danish club Viborg FF and Czech side FC Baník Ostrava respectively.
Commenting on his new job, Slava said: “It feels really good to be here. So far, the impression is really nice and the people in the club look to be very ambitious. Since I arrived here, they have provided me with a lot of information which I am analysing and the first thing I want to do is to quickly get to know my staff members. I need to introduce to them the way I work and they have to feel that I trust them and of course I need to feel that they trust me too. I also need to find a good language with my staff members, because without them I cannot achieve anything.”
He added: “We have to build together a good environment and be patient with the players because nothing comes easy overnight. So, the primary thing is to organise good training sessions here and I believe it will take a little bit of time but I’m sure we will handle that because that is the foundation to develop the players in a proper way. I am interested in hardworking because I have a reputation of being a very demanding coach and I always put my targets as high as possible. I believe in hard work and the players also have to believe in what we are doing and be disciplined!”
Real de Banjul’s second vice president, Bakary K. Jammeh said Zahovaiko’s technical competence and how he helped developed Paide to where it is today, matches with the same ambitions of Real and believes will help raise the level of the players.
“In line with our strategic objective which is to further improve our team, we want not only to be a professional club but to be a sub-regional powerhouse and to ensure that we turn as much of our players professional, to be able to play in bigger leagues in Europe and elsewhere and that is why we decided within our cooperation with Paide Linnameeskond that this year we will have a coach from Estonia in the calibre of Vjat?eslav Zahovaiko. Slava is not only to coach our A team but to be able to help us to further furnish the culture of our club particularly the mentality and the works of the coaching staff to have a culture of professional coaching,” Jammeh said.
