Yuri Illichev

Who is Yuri Illichev?

Dr. Yuri Ilichev was the coach of the national football teams of Iraq and Iceland.

Little is known about the Soviet trainer, one of only a handful of coaches from the USSR that worked outside the Iron Curtain. The trainer from Moscow held a doctorate in Sports science and was appointed as head coach of Spartak Kostroma in November 1959, and spent six years at the club. It has been reported that he worked in Bulgaria, East Germany and Poland, though he may have worked or taught Physical education at Universities in those countries. He spent many years in Iraq and Iceland writing up his thesis on youth players and football, which he published in 1975. Only ten years earlier, he had gained a doctorate in Sports pedegogy.

In 1969, the Iraq Football Association appointed the Soviet trainer as head coach of the Iraq national football team, military team and youth team, and managed some impressive results including the 3–0 thrashing of East Germany's national side by the Iraqi youth team on December 12, 1969 with a hat-trick from young outside right Falih Abid Hajim.