FC Anzhi Makhachkala: The Team Who Tried To Buy Success And It Backfired
By Jim James
As we know, Newcastle United was taken over in October 2021, and it seems a forgone conclusion that within 5 years they’ll be in Premier League contention and be winning rophies galore with a front line of Jonathan David, Vinicius Jr, and Antony. However, a Middle Eastern Billionaire taking over your team isn’t a 100% success story. This is the story of Anzhi Makhachkala, or as I’ll be calling them for the rest of the post, Anzhi. I’m not spelling Makhachkala for the rest of this post. Here we go.
FC Anzhi was founded in 1991 by Alexandr Markarov and started in the Dagestan league, a league that is so irrelevant I can’t find what level of Soviet football it was. 2 years after it was founded, the Soviet Union dissolved and they went to the Russian Second Division, which confusingly was actually the 3rd division. In 1996 they got promoted thanks to key player Ibragim Gasanbekov. He was the team’s top scorer in all of their first 7 seasons and tragically died in 1999 at just 29 midway through the 1999 Russian First Division season from a car crash, where he had scored 7 goals in the division to that point.
The death shook Anzhi. They won the first division title that year, going through to the Russian Top Division, and even though I couldn’t find any evidence, likely dedicated the title win to Gasanbekov. In their 1st season in the top division, they actually did quite well for a newly promoted team, finishing 4th and getting a place in the UEFA cup first round.
In the UEFA Cup they got the displeasure of drawing Scottish Giants Rangers. Due to security concerns in Russia, there was only one game played in a neutral venue, and Rangers won 1-0 from an 84th minute goal from Bert Konterman. Rats.
Things just got worse for the Russian side, as in the 2001 Top Division season, they finished 13th and while they didn’t get relegated, didn’t get a 2nd chance in the UEFA Cup. They did however get to the Russian Cup final and lost on Penalties to Lokomotiv Moscow.
In 2002 the downfall continues as the Pearls finish 15th, and get relegated to the First Division. They stayed in the 1st division until 2009 when they were re-promoted, winning the First Division with Otar Martsvaladze and Nicolae Josan as their main goalscorers. We’re just now getting to the good part.
In 2010 they had an okay summer. But in January 2011 everything changed. They were taken over by Suleyman Kerimov, a Russian billionaire who promised to change everything. First he put aside 200 million to improve the stadium. Then he brought in super signings. He spent 30 million in their first transfer window, on players such as Jucilei, Moubarak Boussoufa, Diego Tardelli, Shamil Lakhiyalov, Joao Carlos, and the blockbuster one from Corinthians, the legendary Left Back Roberto Carlos. This WAS a Roberto Carlos well past his expiry date, as 5 years before the transfer he was sold from Real Madrid, and had been rotting away in Turkey and Brazil for Half a Decade. He was a shirt-seller and guaranteed starter nonetheless. However, Questioned by the fans was the sale of the previous season’s top scorer Otar Martsvaladze to Volga NN for an undisclosed fee, and their previous season’s second top scorer Nicolae Josan went on a career break, and never played for Anzhi again. However that was all minor news compared to the aforementioned signings.
They finished 12th that season, but things quickly improved as in the summer Anzhi pulled off possibly the biggest coup in Russian football history, signing a 30-year old Samuel Eto’o from Inter Milan for 27 million Euros only just more than 12 months after Inter Milan won the treble headlined by Eto’o. They also signed legendary left-back (Deja vu) Yuri Zhirkov (or at least legendary in Russia) for 15 million Euros from Chelsea. To round off the good signings they signed Balazs Dzsudzsak from PSV for 14 million and Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez from Standard Liege for 5 million.
In the winter the big signings were Christopher Samba from Blackburn for 14 million and Oleg Shatov from Ural for 3 millon. However, a puzzling move saw them sell Dzudzsak just mere months after signing him, to Dinamo Moscow for 19 million, still a 5 million total gain. They also sold 2011 Winter Signing Diego Tardelli to Al-Ghafara in Qatar for 7 millon. That season Anzhi finished above Krasnodar and Rostov to go to the Championship Round, because that is now a thing in Russia. Anzhi finished 5th above Lokomotiv Moscow in the round and went to the Europa League 2nd qualifying round.
We’ll get to the Europa League later but now we go to the 2012-13 season. The spending spree continues as Anzhi sign Lacina Traore for 18 million, Ewerton for 5 million, and Lassara Diarra, the headliner, for 5 million from Real Madrid. Also underrated is the signing of Russian Striker Feder Smolov on loan from Dinamo Moscow. However, they lose Roberto Carlos to a career break. He doesn’t play for Anzhi again. Despite the sale of Christopher Samba to QPR for 15 million wasn’t great, they did sign Willian from Shakhtar Donetsk for 35 million in the winter of 2013. This was regarded as the best signing for Anzhi in the entire regime under their Billionaire owners. Let’s see how they got on that season.
In the Europa, They beat Hungarians Honved 5-0 on aggregate in their first matchup with a 1-0 win via a Jucilei goal in Russia and a brace from Samuel Eto’o, and goals from Lacina Traore and Oleg Shatov to have a 0-4 thrashing in Hungary doing it.
The second matchup was against Vitesse. In the Russian leg they got off well with goals by Oleg Shatov and Feder Smolov. In Holland a brace from Samuel Eto’o got them the result, a 4-0 aggregate win and a feeling that Samuel Eto’o really likes these away games.
They had one more team to go. AZ. they faced another Dutch team. First, the Russian leg was a measly 1-0 victory from a 51st minute Lacina Traore goal. Could they do it in Holland? 17th minute, Mbark Boussoufa scores. 0-1 Anzhi, 0-2 aggregate. 1st half stoppage time: Samuel Eto’o scores. 0-2 Anzhi, 0-3 Aggregate. The final score was 0-5 Anzhi, 0-6 on aggregate. They were through.
They got a group with Liverpool, Udinese and Young Boys. They somehow, some way got through. The highlight of the group was a legendary 1-0 win against Liverpool from a Lacina Traore goal. They got to the Round of 16 and lost vs Newcastle. In the League They finished 3rd and qualified directly for the group stage.
In the 2013-14 season the best signings were Alex Kokorin, Igor Denisov, Christopher Samba, but this was the season that their ownership was starting to fall apart. Their owners decided to Third their spending limit, so most of their signings were off, including Kokorin, Denisov and Samba mere weeks after joining the team. Willian was also off just 7-8 months after joining. However, in the Europa League they managed to get through in a group with Spurs, Sheriff, and Tromso. They won 2-0 on aggregate vs Genk in the Round of 32, but lost 1-0 on aggregate to AZ in the RO16. It was much worse in the Russian Premier League. They finished last. Yes, they got relegated. We’re in the downfall now.
In the summer of 2014, Anzhi sign Yannick Boli, a forward who would prove critical to Anzhi this season. In the winter they loan out Ewerton, one of the only remaining signings from the spending sprees, to Sporting.
They win the National League, yes. It’s not over yet, ladies and gentleman! Yannick Boli takes home the top scorer of the season award, and for the Third time in their time, they win the 2nd Division.
In the 2015 transfer window, with their money, they sign Bernard Berisha and Jonathan Mensah for a combined fee of… 500k. They are still spending gingerly, and it shows as they go to the relegation playoff in the 15-16 season. They have to beat a 2nd division side that got into the promotion playoff. Volgar Astrakhan is the team to face. In the 1st leg, the away leg, they win from a gut wrenching 2nd half stoppage time goal by Yannick Boly. Then it’s a comfortable 2-0 win with goals from Boly and Darko Lazic. Then, that summer, they were sold to Osman Kadiyev, not a billionaire.
In the 16-17 season they sell Berisha and Mensah a year after buying them, and sign a bunch of free transfers who barely get a look in. They barely survive, missing the relegation play-off by head to head record vs Orenberg.
Their biggest signing in the 17-18 season is Jhon Chancellor on a free from Delphin, but other than that it was the same story as 16-17. They didn’t get lucky, and were back in the relegation play-off. This time they face Yenisey Krasnoyarsk. 1st leg, away. They lose 3-0. They look like they’re going down to the 2nd division. The 2nd leg is a 4-3 thriller, wher Krasnoyarsk scored the first 2 goals and Anzhi clawed back 3 of the 5 goal advantage, but it was to not. Anzhi was back down in the 2nd division.
Wait a minute, what’s this? One of the promoted teams, didn’t get a license for the 18-19 season. Anzhi STAY in the Russian Premier League! However, it was just more delayed misery for Anzhi fans, as a 21-point season saw them get relegated to the 2nd division. This time, it was for good.
This is the worst state they were in yet. They couldn’t register many of their players for the 19-20 season due to outstanding debts, and most of their players for the season were jst youth squad players from the previous season. Due to these debts, however, they couldn’t even participate in the 19-20 National League, and went straight to the 3rd division for 20-21, which is where they are now.
That is the story of FC Anzhi Makhachkala, who after getting a billionaire owner, only got a new stadium, a couple shiny signings, and a European campaign or two. No Russian League success, no European success, and today are worse than they might have been should they not have got owned. This was a cautionary tale to Newcastle United, this is Jim James, and until next time.