Yuri Pavlovich Semin is a Russian football coach. He has managed FC Lokomotiv Moscow for 4 different stints, for a total of over 23 years. The recent history of the Russian club has been associated with him, as he was also president for a short period.
At the age of 16, while still attending school, Semin started his player career at Spartak Oryol, a Soviet Second League club. One year later he was invited to Spartak Moscow. He has scored two first Spartak's goals in a European competition. At the age of 20, Semin changed club again, this time to Dynamo Moscow. With this club, he won his only player's trophy, the 1970 Soviet Cup. He calls the spell with Dynamo the most successful period of his player career. Semin left Dynamo due to disagreements with the coach after he was not fielded in a European match. After that he has changed several other clubs. Semin played for Kairat Almaty, Chkalovets Novosibirsk, Lokomotiv Moscow, and Kuban Krasnodar. He ended his career as a player at the age of 33.
Coach career
Semin started his coaching career in 1983, when he was called to save Pamir Dushanbe, a First League team, from relegation. Semin succeeded and was recognized as the honorary coach of Tajik SSR for this achievement. In 1986 Semin went on to coach FC Lokomotiv Moscow, where he spent 19 years. During the period of his work Lokomotiv transformed from a mid-table club to one of the leaders of Russian football, winning the championship in 2002 and 2004. Semin also enjoyed cup success, winning Russian Cup five times, Russian Super Cup twice and reaching Cup Winners' Cup semifinal twice. In 2005 Semin left Lokomotiv for the Russia national team to help it reach the 2006 FIFA World Cup final tournament. He failed to achieve that and decided to leave the national team. In November 2005, Semin began coaching Dynamo Moscow, but was sacked in 2006. In 2007, he returned to FC Lokomotiv Moscow as club president, but one year later his contract was terminated due to team's low league position. Later in 2007 Semin took over the managerial position with FC Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine and guided the club to a championship in the 2008-09 season as well as a semi-final appearance in the UEFA Cup. On 26 May 2009 he quit FC Dynamo Kyiv and returned to FC Lokomotiv Moscow. Under the terms of his contract, he was expected to stay with the club until December 2011. Semin replaced Rashid Rakhimov. He was fired as Lokomotiv manager on 29 November 2010. On 24 December 2010, he signed a new contract with Dynamo Kyiv ending in 2012. On 29 May 2013 Semin was officially unveiled as manager of Gabala of the Azerbaijani Premier League. After leading Gabala to third in the Premier League and as runners up in the Cup, Semin left Gabala on 23 May 2014. Semin was announced as Anzhi Makhachkala manager on 18 June 2015, signing a one-year contract with the option of an additional year. After gaining only 6 points in first 10 games of the 2015-16 season and with Anzhi in last place, Syomin left Anzhi on 29 September 2015. On 26 August 2016, Lokomotiv Moscow announced new appointment of Semin as a manager of the team. He won his third title with the team in the 2017–18 season. He also won the 2016–17 Russian Cup and 2018–19 Russian Cup with the club, meaning he won a trophy in each of his three full seasons of this stint with Lokomotiv. On 14 May 2020, Lokomotiv's board of directors dismissed Semin as his contract was expiring on 31 May and they decided not to extend it. The Russian Premier League was suspended at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia, with Lokomotiv in 2nd position in the standings.
