Commentators of the Match TV channel. Famous Russian sports commentators Russian match TV commentators
The Match TV channel has determined the list of commentators who remained on staff after optimization. This list does not include Vasily Utkin, Alexey Andronov, Kirill Dementyev and other commentators who worked for NTV-Plus. Georgy Cherdantsev, Gennady Orlov, Vladimir Stognienko, Konstantin Genich and Yuri Rozanov remained on the staff. The R-Sport agency reports this with reference to its source.
“Not everyone has yet received notifications [about removal from staff], including Vasily Utkin, Alexey Andronov and Kirill Dementyev, although they have already been summoned to the personnel department. Among those who have already received notices, one can name Vladislav Baturin, Vladimir Ivanitsky, Alexander Netsenko, Taras Timoshenko, Yolanda Chen, Mikhail Melnikov, Elvin Kerimov, Alexander Elagin.
An important point is that we are not talking about layoffs or dismissals; the transition to a fee-based remuneration system without a fixed salary is a purely voluntary matter. If the employee is against this, he can work for two months under the same conditions, receive one salary and become completely free, or agree to switch to work under new conditions. Moreover, if the commentator has around 15 work shifts, as they explained to us, then he will most likely repeat his current salary.
We can say with full confidence that Georgy Cherdantsev, Gennady Orlov, Vladimir Stognienko, Konstantin Genich, Yuri Rozanov were not included in the optimization,” the agency quotes the words of an informant familiar with the situation.
On January 22, information appeared in the media that the management of Match TV had begun to optimize its staff. It became known that Vasily Utkin, Alexey Andronov, Kirill Dementyev, Alexander Elagin, Vladislav Baturin and Elvin Kerimov will be removed from the state.
“Match TV plans to optimize the number of personnel. Some employees have already received notifications this evening. The channel's management intends to retire some of its employees, including some commentators. They will be asked to enter into contracts that provide payments only for work actually performed: commentating on matches and hosting live programs.
At the same time, commentators will have the opportunity to work in other media outlets without the approval of the channel administration. The optimization will affect at least half of the channel’s commentary staff,” a source working for Match TV told R-Sport.
The channel's press service issued a statement explaining that the contracts of employees who are not 100 percent involved will be revised. These employees will be able to work on third-party projects.
“By the time the channel was launched in November 2015, about 1,200 employees of the joint editorial offices of NTV Plus and Rossiya 2 were involved in working on Match TV. In the process of work, some specialists have increased their area of responsibility and responsibilities, while others, on the contrary, have decreased. For the first few months we worked in test mode. We are now introducing personnel practices that are used by many television companies.
Now some of our employees, whose time we do not use 100 percent, are free to work on other projects. The previous version of the agreement significantly limited this possibility,” the press service said.
Vasily Utkin, former manager sports editor of NTV-Plus, announced on Monday that he was starting to look for a new job.
Today is three months since the new sports channel “Match TV” began broadcasting. We calculated which of his commentators was the most popular among the management and who spent the most broadcasts.
9-10th place. Roman Trushechkin. 7 broadcasts.
The top ten most popular Match TV commentators is opened by Roman Trushechkin, who returned to work for NTV-Plus shortly before the opening of the new
Federal sports channel. Trushechkin’s journalistic career began back in 1996, but in addition to experience, Roman can boast of a memorable voice, ideal for the work of a football commentator. Seven broadcasts are excellent proof that Tina Kandelaki also liked Trushechkin’s voice.
9-10th place. Georgy Cherdantsev. 7 broadcasts.
With the same seven broadcasts, the emotional Georgy Cherdantsev was in ninth place. His famous “I’ll finish everything now” and “buffoonery” have long become classics of Russian sports television, and Georgy himself is one of the most popular and sought-after commentators in the country. The NTV Plus veteran is one of those without whom it was impossible to imagine new project called "Match TV". There is an opinion that it is Cherdantsev who is Kandelaki’s main favorite among commentators, but looking at this rating, you cannot say this. Although ninth place also looks honorable.
7-8th place. Vladimir Stognienko. 8 broadcasts.
Vladimir Stognienko joined the new channel with the rank of one of the main commentators at VGTRK, and his track record speaks for itself. In addition to the final matches of the World and European Championships, Vladimir had the opportunity to work at the interrupted game between the Russian and Montenegro national teams, where, as he himself admitted, “I had to commentate on the stadium for two hours.” Stognienko has repeatedly confessed his love for the Italian championship and one Russian club, the name of which is still kept secret. Vladimir does not consider himself a particularly emotional commentator, saying that shouting and screaming on air is more for young people. However, he still has his own signature. Just look at the song of the group “ChaiF” on the air of the Argentina-Jamaica match at the last America's Cup. Apparently, it was for such a non-standard approach to commenting that Stognienko was awarded eighth place in this rating.
7-8th place. Nobel Arustamyan. 8 broadcasts.
Another big fan Italian football and personally the Turin Juventus, Nobel Arustamyan joined the Match TV team, being a commentator for NTV Plus and a presenter on Radio Sport. On TV he works on Serie A and Champions League matches. In ten years, he managed to enter the ranking of commentators whose voices we hear most often on football broadcasts.
5-6th place. Alexander Shmurnov. 9 broadcasts.
Veteran of the Russian Federation sports journalism Alexander Shmurnov conducted his nine broadcasts in his characteristic manner. Tina Givievna’s vast experience and unsurpassed broadcasting style could not go unnoticed.
5-6th place. Konstantin Genich. 9 broadcasts.
The journalistic activity of Konstantin Genich began in 2006, when it became clear that the injury he received in a friendly game as part of Amkar, with further continuation football career incompatible. And the first place of work in a new field for Konstantin was NTV Plus. It’s hard to say how Genich’s future career as a football player would have gone, but in journalism Konstantin became a real star. The best commentator in the country in 2015, and in his new place of work, has not lost his role as one of the most sought-after in his business. Nine prominent broadcasts since the start of Match TV broadcasting is a quite respectable figure, especially considering that Genich usually gets the most important matches. And last year, Konstantin had the honor of becoming the voice of FIFA 16 in Russia, together with his colleague Cherdantsev. So Tina Givievna’s trust seems completely justified.
4th place. Roman Gutzeit. 12 broadcasts.
At 29, Roman Gutzeit has already become the most active purely football commentator on Match TV. The rapid progress of the young journalist, apparently, made a strong impression on Tina Kandelaki, otherwise how else to explain 12 football broadcasts since the channel began broadcasting? At the end of 2015, Gutzeit was among the top ten best commentators in our country, but in the future he will certainly aim for leadership in the ranking.
3rd place. Yuri Rozanov. 13 broadcasts.
Even before Match TV began broadcasting, there was information that commentators on the new channel would be prohibited from working in more than one sport. But life has shown that this is not so. Rozanov successfully combines the work of a commentator on football and hockey matches. True, Rozanov has much more hockey broadcasts on Match TV than football broadcasts, which may seem strange to many of his fans, since Yuri has always been associated primarily with football. The former voice of a series of FIFA games in Russia worked 13 broadcasts, 12 of which were hockey broadcasts.
2nd place. Denis Kazansky. 15 broadcasts.
Denis Kazansky, like Rozanov, comments on both football and hockey on Match TV. Only in the case of Kazansky, the ratio of the number of broadcasts in two sports is approximately equal. Seven hockey broadcasts and eight football broadcasts are the statistics of a true all-rounder. Perhaps this quality is what attracted Tina Kandelaki to Kazansky, which is why we hear him on air so often.
1st place. Alexander Tkachev. 22 broadcasts.
Alexander Tkachev has long become a voice Russian hockey and with 22 broadcasts, it is Tina Kandelaki’s main favorite. It seems that it was precisely with his ability to work that Tkachev earned the trust of higher management and thanks to this he continues to remain the most familiar commentator on Match TV to this day. The ability to withstand such loads, as in any other job, comes with experience. Alexander has more than enough of it, because Tkachev has been involved in journalism since 1988.
At all times sports had a large army of fans. Some people like to watch competitions while at the stadium, others prefer to stay at home and follow everything that happens on their TV screens. Of course, it is much more interesting when skilled commentators lead a football or basketball match. Some of them are no less popular than TV presenters of entertainment programs. Further in the article we will present to your attention who are the most famous sports commentators Russia. Let's start with a real veteran.
Gennady Orlov
Before becoming a commentator, he was a footballer, a striker. In this field, he received the title of master G. Orlov is also an Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation and a laureate of the TEFI Prize (2008). He became interested in football during his school years, played for Avangard (Sumy), and after graduating from school he played in the Kharkov team of the same name. After the coach of this team noticed him at a match with Leningrad “Zenith”, he received an invitation to go to the Northern capital and join its team. For some time he played and lived in Leningrad, but at the age of 25 he had to leave football because he was injured. Then he decided to return to his homeland, but met beautiful girl Olga, who was an actress at the Komissarzhevskaya Theater. So he stayed for her and her acting career.
He came to television in 1973. After the death of Viktor Nabutov, one of the best sports commentators in Russia, a vacancy appeared in the sports news editorial office and a competition was announced. I decided to participate and won. So off we go, he reported from the Olympics and the most important football matches in both the country and the world. He became the leader of such sports programs Leningrad television, such as “Penalty”, “Again about football”, “Football in Zenit”. Then he was invited to host the “Gol!” program on ORT on a freelance basis. Since the fall of 2009, Gennady moved to the NTV-Plus channel, but continued to remain a constant commentator for Zenit matches. Since November 2015, he has been a commentator for football broadcasts on the Match TV channel.
Georgy Cherdantsev
He also heads the Russian sports commentators. He gained his main fame as a sports presenter on NTV television channels, and then on NTV-Plus. Today he is a commentator on Match TV. He began his television career in 1996, when the staff of the new satellite television channel NTV + was recruited.
Initially, he was a translator, then he voiced small stories of sports reports. Then I took him as a correspondent for his author’s program “Football Club”. He commentated on the first match in 1998. It was a recording of the match between Italy and Norway at the World Cup in France. A year later, he was hired by the TNT and NTV+ Football channels.
From time to time he replaced Vasily Utkin and hosted several episodes of “Football Club”. In addition to television, he became the host of sports programs on the Silver Rain radio station. Like most of the country's best sports commentators, today he is a permanent employee of the Match TV television company.
Victor Gusev
What kind of sports commentators are there on famous channels? “Russia-1” and “Channel One” are a special brotherhood. To work in these television companies - highest achievement for most sportswriters. V. Gusev has been collaborating with television since 1992, first as a freelancer and presenter of the “Gol” and “Sports Weekend” programs, which were shown on Channel One.
First Soccer game, which he commented on, is a game between Moscow “Spartak” and “Galatasaray” in the UEFA Champions League. Since 1995, he became a full-time employee of Channel One. By the way, since 1996 he was the presenter of the sports block in the news programs “News” and “Time”.
Then he became the head of the Directorate of Sports Programs at Channel One. Since 2004, he has been the author and host of the original program “At Football with Viktor Gusev.” He also became a participant in the popular projects “The Last Hero” (third part), “Lost” and the game “Great Race”. In addition to sports programs, he also hosted the culinary television game “Lord of Taste”. He received the TEFI award three times and is vice president Federation sports journalists RF.
Dmitry Guberniev
This Russian sports commentator is not only one of the most famous, but also one of the most beloved TV presenters in the country. Today he is a full-time employee of the Match TV channel, as well as the editor-in-chief of the United Directorate of Sports TV Channels of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. He was a laureate twice in 2007 and 2015. He got into television in the early 90s, taking part in a competition for the position of a sports commentator for the new satellite TV channel NTV+, and then TV-6. His stage speech teacher was Svetlana Kornelyevna Makarova, who was the teacher of Ekaterina Andreeva, Leni Parfenov, Mikhail Zelensky and Tina Kandelaki. Today he himself teaches using her methodology and teaches young commentators.
How to gain popularity
Since 2000, Dmitry Guberniev became a sports commentator on the TV channels “Russia-1”, and then “Sport”, which later became known as “Russia-2”. Every year his popularity as a presenter increased. “The two-meter big man,” as he calls himself, was loved by the whole country. He is the best sports commentator today (Russia-2 is a channel that can be called his home).
For quite a long time he was co-host morning program « Good morning, Russia!" and other transmissions. Since 2007, he has had his own author’s program, “Sports Week with D. Guberniev,” as well as the program “Biathlon with Dmitry Guberniev,” which he hosted for 5 years. You probably remember him as a participant in “Fort Boyard” - one of the most interesting and extreme games in the whole world. Since 2000, he has been a columnist for the Olympics diaries.
Russian sports commentators
In this article, we profiled four of the country's most popular sports commentators. Their voices are familiar to many of our compatriots, and not only, because sports programs broadcast on Russian TV channels are also watched by residents of the CIS countries, and these men have become very dear and beloved. As for their faces, we see them less often, but nevertheless they are also recognizable. Russian sports commentators, whose photos we presented in the article, managed to achieve popularity through their hard work, as well as their love and devotion to sports.
33 years old, commentating since 2002
Channel"Russia 2"
He started as a correspondent for NTV-Plus, in 2004 he ended up on Rossiya-2 and quickly became the main star of one of the most boring channels on Russian television. Subsequently, Vasily Utkin tried to return him to NTV-Plus, but Stognienko chose to remain first on the federal channel (VGTRK did not have strong commentators at that time, and Stognienko looked advantageous compared to any colleague), and not one of the best on satellite.
At Russia-2, Stognienko commentated mainly on the Russian, Italian and English championships. Respecting the tradition of the British to support the local teams throughout the city, he himself prefers the Italian Serie A, considering it more interesting than the English Premier League. A CSKA fan (but actively hiding it, preferring to say that as a native Muscovite he supports the local team), he worries about Milan and Boca Juniors. He ends the match with the same phrase, “Goodbye and good luck,” obviously inspired by a George Clooney film.
Strengths Stognienko is charismatic, his commentary irritates a minimum number of listeners. He jokes, but in moderation (which is rather good). His role is that of a guy who will not burden the viewer with deep tactical analysis. By and large, Stognienko does not say anything that the viewer cannot think of on his own. Rather than being clever, he would rather once again quote something close and understandable, like the film “Courier” or the cartoon “Once Upon a Time There Was a Dog.” He tries to be natural, to use a simple vocabulary familiar to ordinary Russians.
Flaw May alienate sophisticated and demanding listeners who want serious analysis - Stognienko will rarely go into nuances and would rather limit himself to the traditional “good pass”, “dangerous shot” or “bad cross”.
Quotes
“Messi has finally become not a football figure, but a standard of something ideal. I came home to my wife, tried the borscht, and said: “Well, your borscht today is just Messi.” Or: “Well, today is not very good, at best - Higuain”;
“With the Spaniards it’s the other way around: their defenders live in the opposing half of the field”;
"A brilliant pass from Gerrard, and Carroll took the ball like - I don't want to say the word 'log' - a block."
43 years old, commentating since 1998
Channel"NTV-Plus"
From 82 to 89 he played for Spartak-2, but ended his career due to a knee injury. On television since 1996. He is a fan of Spartak Moscow. Perhaps the most odious this moment a Russian commentator who deliberately exploits his reputation.
Cherdantsev’s triumph was the commentary on Russia’s victorious quarter-final at Euro 08 against Holland - several phrases went viral (“I’ll finish everything now” (after Russia’s winning goal), “Kolodin is a terrible cannon”, “Arshavin! How he beat a tree, more beat one tree..."). 6 years later, people still take Cherdantsev’s autographs and thank him for that game. And if before Euro 08 he was a strong but average commentator, then in recent years he has not hidden the fact that he works for the Cherdantsev brand.
One of the first in Russia to start shouting “go-o-o-o-ol” in a drawn-out manner in the spirit Latin American commentators However, he still can’t hold out the vowels for as long.
Strengths/Weaknesses Over-emotional presentation, harsh, uncompromising, subjective assessments, commentary at the level of pain - all this impresses some and exactly the same irritates others: Cherdantsev is one of those commentators whom they either passionately love or cannot stand.
Quotes
“I’ll probably order a car now for a special hospital”;
“So what, well, just think: so what, I scored, but we’ll still have time! Just think, I scored! You can’t score anything except from a free kick, Dutch, me too.”
58 years old, commentating since 1992
Channel"First channel"
Twitter Doesn't use it
The main football commentator of Channel One, the person with whom the Russian national team's performance in the late 90s - early 2000s is associated, as well as all its main failures. The classic remark of a superstitious fan is “ours lost again because of Gusev.” Statistically, this is, of course, not true, but Gusev has become a hostage to his established reputation. It got to the point that some players of the national team, according to rumors, asked to be removed from commentating their matches, considering Gusev “unfortunate.”
A fan of the band Jethro Tull and classic hard rock, a fan of Dynamo Moscow. When leaving, he always says the phrase “Take care of yourself.”
Strengths Gusev works at a stable average level, but rarely surprises (except with his blunders). His slightly nasal voice, three catch phrases (“we immediately remember...”, “look what’s happening” and “but, attention”) and a rather ingenuous and good-natured manner of commenting are a guaranteed reminiscence of the past. As film critic Stanislav Zelvensky accurately noted: “He has such a voice that it seems that he will definitely say something stupid now, but he just doesn’t say it. Cozy."
Flaws Gusev's main problem is that due to the lack of competition on the federal channel and the small number of broadcasts, he is stuck in the past. Gusev rarely takes risks, trying to show off an unexpected joke or a non-trivial analysis of an episode, which is why his commentary often looks like oatmeal on water.
Quote
“Zyryanov under pressure from fresh Cox (Simon Cox - forward of the Irish national team. - Note ed.) - sounds good, I wonder if it happens Coke fresh ?»
36 years old, commentating since 2006
Channel"NTV-Plus"
Former Amkar footballer Konstantin Genich ended his career at the age of 28 after an injury and has since been destroying the myth that Russian athletes They are tongue-tied and have nothing to do on television. Best commentator on NTV-Plus of two recent years according to the results of a survey of television viewers.
Genich works well in pairs - he always listens to someone else’s point of view and, if necessary, politely and tactfully corrects or supports his colleague (then carefully make a joke to Gennady Orlov, he will give him away together with his partner parody in the manner of Spanish commentators).
He specializes in the Spanish Championship, sympathizes with Barcelona and the English Arsenal.
Strengths Versatility: Genich can joke, yell, and, using his football experience, competently analyze a game moment. Genich's main advantage is that he is not ashamed of his mistakes and is ready to learn from them. Genich, like Stognienko, is his own guy, only in his case - a guy who was a professional football player.
Flaws Genich does not review matches with his participation, as his own voice irritates him. He has problems with diction, speech production, and correct pronunciation individual words. Genich likes to make vulgar jokes about beautiful girls in the stands, which were included in the TV broadcast - the majority of Russian fans, however, do not mind.
Quote
“The Krylia players are squeezing this ball all the time, thereby wasting time. You need to squeeze a girl at night.”
53 years old, commentating since 1996
Channel"Russia 2"
Twitter Doesn't use it
The patriarch of Russian sports commentary, equally well versed in both football and hockey. One of those for whom you can even watch the Shinnik - Tom match, not to mention the World Championship.
He began his career at NTV-Plus, where he entered after passing the first commentator competition in 1996. He started with hockey and worked in the group of the legendary Soviet commentator Yevgeny Mayorov. Then he specialized in the Dutch, English, Italian and Spanish football championships, and commentated on the finals of the Champions League and European Championship. Since 2012, he worked on Ukrainian television, but in 2014, due to the political situation in Ukraine, he returned to Russia.
Rozanov was passionately, even painfully interested in betting and, according to rumors, got into big debts because of it. All my life I was a fan of CSKA, which, unlike most commentators, I never hid. Until 1991, he actively participated in the team’s trips. Among his foreign interests are the Dutch national football team and the Montreal Canadiens hockey team.
Strengths Balance, logic, correctness and objectivity. Rozanov is the chief specialist in football tactics, the most corrosive and pedantic commentator, ready to analyze the episode at the molecular level.
Flaws To an unprepared fan, Rozanov may seem boring and boring, and those who consider themselves experts may be irritated by his mentoring tone and confidence that this or that episode should be interpreted only this way and not otherwise. After all, you can’t get into a debate with him while sitting on the sofa.
Quote
“Mark van Bommel, it turns out, is not a defensive midfielder, but a clumsy midfielder.”
Spares
37 years old, commentating since 2002
Channel"Russia 2"
The Russian Football Premier League started at the end of July, and the national championships of leading European countries begin in August. Before starting a new one football season The Village talked to Match TV and Match Premier commentator Sergei Krivokharchenko and found out whether women can commentate on football, why quote Oksimiron in reports, what football and Game of Thrones have in common, and what are the specifics of the Russian school of commentators.
Commentating on football is not as easy as it seems. You can try it yourself. Turn on any match, talk for five minutes, record yourself. Then listen to what happened, and you will understand why it is quite difficult: the commentator needs to keep a lot of different information in his head, recognize each “cute by his gait”, instantly react to what is happening and talk about all this in good Russian.
Some viewers think that I am not emotional enough. Others, on the contrary, write: “It’s great that you don’t yell.” I think it wouldn’t hurt me to add more emotionality and artistry, because our work is almost show business: we not only help watch football, but also have to entertain the audience. On the one hand, commentators are service personnel, but on the other hand, we must decorate the game, especially if it itself is not very bright.
The Match TV monitoring department sends letters to commentators detailing our mistakes in reporting. They point out too long pauses, grammatical errors and simply unfortunate expressions. Although sometimes they are not talking about mistakes as such, but, for example, about football jargon, which is why some colleagues react nervously to this. For example, there is an expression “send your opponent to the buffet.” If you comment on a satellite channel for an advanced audience, then you will be perfectly understood. But if the match is shown on the federal “Match TV”, then I can easily imagine a middle-aged spectator who will think: “Why did this football player go to the buffet right during the match?” Of course, no one is fined based on these letters. In addition, our work is sometimes analyzed by a professional philologist.
Of course, I pay attention to the tips from the monitoring department, I love constructive criticism. But in general, it seems to me that when you reach a certain level in your business, it becomes more and more difficult to progress. In my opinion, this is the case in any profession: roughly speaking, writing normal newspaper texts is not so difficult, but after that learning to write like Dovlatov is much more difficult - and generally not everyone can do it.
I read reviews of my work on Twitter both after the match and during the break. I am able to filter what they write to me. I simply don’t react to rudeness and rudeness without arguments, but often viewers suggest something useful or correct me if I made an inaccuracy somewhere.
Professional football players and coaches say that they are interested in listening to our comments. Yes, Kurban Berdyev (Main coach"Rubina". - Approx. ed.) I once said in an interview that I watch matches without sound, but I haven’t heard this from other specialists. For example, Dmitry Alenichev (Head coach of “Yenisey”. - Ed.), and Victor Goncharenko (head coach of CSKA. - Ed.) told me that they like the work of Match TV commentators. Maybe we can sometimes blurt out something stupid or superficially analyze an episode somewhere - after all, during a live broadcast we only have a few seconds to evaluate, but, on the other hand, we prepare for matches, read a lot and can tell a lot of interesting things even for professionals.
Why tell stories and remain silent on air?
I try to make the reporting more interesting by telling different stories that create context around the match - for example, about the heroes: the players and coaches. After all, football is like a TV series: in each game, as in a separate episode, different characters collide, intrigues intertwine, storylines- all this creates the drama of the match and the entire season. I want to draw the viewer into the process so that he wants to watch the next match in order to find out what will happen next to this or that character, will he be rewarded in the end, will there be a happy ending or, on the contrary, will the ending be tragic?
For example, I'm commentating a match German club“Freiburg”, which in Russia, of course, everyone should rely on. But I can tell you that Freiburg is a very interesting and unusual team, which back in the 90s was called “Brazilians from Breisgau”, because they always tried to play beautiful football. Back in the late 80s, the president of this club himself brought a coffee machine to games for journalists, and after the match he could pick up a broom and sweep the paths near the stadium.
Now the coach of this team is Christian Streich, whose press conferences are like in a movie: he is very witty and never answers questions with standard phrases. The local newspaper even ran a “Streich of the Week” column, choosing the most striking quote from this coach. He burns in every interview and believes that football players are, first of all, people, and not stupid performers. Therefore, he talks to them about politics, about Donald Trump, migrants in Germany, and so on.
Freiburg has one of my favorite characters in the Bundesliga - Nils Petersen. He may never be a superstar, but he scores the most beautiful goals, he is a very smart guy and recently gave a mega-cool interview in which he stated that, playing football for the last ten years, he has greatly degraded: “Footballers have a ton of free time, so I decided to get higher education" He also said that he did not understand why football players earn so much money, because, unlike teachers and doctors, they do not do anything useful for society.
I tell all these stories and hope that it hooks viewers and makes them want to follow these teams and characters. Sometimes it works. I have friends who were not interested in football at all, but after talking to me they not only started watching it on TV, but made a special trip to Dortmund for Borussia matches. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to them. Sorry for ruining your life.
Of course, there is a danger of getting carried away by history and not keeping up with an important episode. For example, the defenders have the ball in their own half of the field, one of them is shown in close-up, and it seems that you have 15 seconds to tell the story of how this defender was hit by his grandmother with a shovel as a child. But he suddenly makes a long pass into the penalty area, where the striker throws the ball under attack, and a dangerous moment arises. As a result, you have to crumple up the story in order to have time to comment on at least the ending of the attack. Fortunately, with experience, such moments become fewer: commentators begin to feel when they can go into lyrical digressions, and when it is better not to do this.
Different stories They are also needed to brighten up a boring match. In addition, of course, irony and humor help. Classic example - reportage from the terrible match England - Trinidad and Tobago, which was commented phenomenally cool by Vasily Utkin. At the last World Championship, Roman Naguchev and I got the worst match of the tournament - France - Denmark. It seems to me that the players should be ashamed of that game in front of the 80 thousand fans who came to Luzhniki. Both teams were satisfied with a draw, and they were just fooling around, so at some point Naguchev and I had no choice but to joke about what was happening.
Sometimes you can and should be silent on air. This is air in the report, but pauses should not be too long - no more than five seconds. The exception is when something supernatural happens in the stands. I once commentated on a match between Eintracht Braunschweig, another team that no one in Russia is interested in. That season they were hopeless outsiders, two heads weaker than all their opponents. And in this match they were hopelessly losing on their field with a score like 0:5. Ten minutes before the end, the entire stadium started singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” That’s when I definitely allowed myself a pause of about 20 seconds - I still couldn’t say anything, it was such an emotional moment.
On the one hand, commentators are service personnel, but on the other hand, we must decorate the game, especially if it itself is not very bright.
How to become a commentator
I became interested in football early childhood. My first vague memories with him date back to around 1988–1989, when my father and grandfather watched the Union Championship and supported the Odessa Chernomorets. I remember much better in 1990, when I was eight years old and watched the World Cup in Italy. When the USSR national team beat Cameroon with a score of 4:0, but was still eliminated, I cried.
I was crazy about football and, of course, dreamed of becoming a football player. He kept notebooks with tables, schedules of major tournaments and team compositions. My father taught me to play football with plasticine football players. I held the competition on a windowsill; the names of the players, as well as the names of the teams, were fictitious. I wrote down the results of matches in notebooks, kept statistics, and even wrote some reports. Of course, sometimes I rigged the results in favor of my favorite teams.
My friends and I played football almost every day. I was still studying at the time music school, and it infuriated me that when everyone was going to the field, I had to dejectedly wander into the music room for solfeggio. Already in high school, when I lived and studied at a physical and technical boarding school, my friends and I set a temperature record - we played for an hour and a half at minus 22 degrees. The teacher looked at us like we were crazy.
Quite quickly it became clear that I would not become a professional football player. I was interested in computers, I was going to become a programmer and got into journalism by accident. The fact is that I failed the 11th grade at a physics and technology school - it suddenly became clear that there are things in life that are more interesting than studying. As a result, I only have two B’s in my certificate, all the others are C’s, and I didn’t show it to my father for six months. But I tried to enter the very strong Faculty of Computer Science at Moscow State University and, of course, did not enter. In the summer after graduating from school, I went to Armavir, where my cousin Edik worked on local TV, thanks to whom I became interested in this profession. Then I accidentally wrote two texts for the Narodnaya Gazeta about classical music. I enrolled in sub-courses at the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, found a vacancy on some left-wing website for a correspondent for the Moskovia TV channel, and spent six months filming stories from the Moscow region.
Football is a very patriarchal sport. Women commentators in Russian football No.
Several times in the lobby of the television center I met Vasily Utkin and, of course, it took me a long time to approach him: he was my idol, I have watched “Football Club” since childhood, without missing a single episode. In the end, I plucked up courage, went up to him and said that I was obsessed with football and dreamed of working in " Football club" For some reason, Utkin did not send me, but suggested that I meet in a couple of days and show him my stories from Muscovy. Fortunately, he didn’t watch them, because he knew what he would see there, but we talked for about an hour, after which he led me to the famous room 8-16.
I interned at NTV-Plus for nine months without receiving a penny of money. Experienced comrades were rushing around with me: Ilya Kazakov, Sergey Meshcheryakov, Dima Fedorov, many others - they showed me how to edit correctly, write texts, shoot stories, and so on. I was a correspondent who was sent to film any crap, worked as an editor, and also translated and voiced magazines like “Football World Cup”. And from there he went to 7TV, where he began commentating when I was 21 years old.
I have two incomplete higher educations. One is the journalism department of Moscow State University, which I dropped out of after two courses. The second is the University of Potsdam, which I, unfortunately, did not manage to graduate from, because I was offered a great job in Russia - in the PROSport magazine. It seems to me that a good higher education is useful for any person, including a football commentator. I definitely could use a higher education, but I don’t mean the journalism department of Moscow State University, which gave me nothing at all in two years.
A commentator is a piece of work. There are several dozen sports commentators throughout the country. Therefore, the competition is now very high: at Match TV we have talented guys who work as editors, dream of commentating and have been waiting for their chance for a very long time. But sometimes breakthroughs happen: some winners of various commentator competitions quickly began working for high level, some even at World Cup matches. But these are rather exceptions: our work is largely based on experience. My parents still have a couple of videotapes with my first reports lying around. When I tried to listen to one of them seven or eight years ago, I felt uneasy.
How to prepare for a match
A good commentator prepares for matches more or less constantly: he watches a lot of football and reads about it. In addition, it is useful to follow popular culture in order to speak the same language with viewers: watch TV series, listen to music, follow the news and even memes. For example, recently, during a report, my colleagues said that some football player plays like “my mother’s friend’s son” - the Internet exploded.
In one of the matches I compared the Bundesliga to the Game of Thrones, and it turned out quite easily: Bayern are absolutely Lannisters, and Hamburg, where complete madness took place, are, of course, wildlings and so on. Judging by Twitter, viewers liked it. And after I quoted Oksimiron in the report and then went to Vkontakte, I felt sick: there were hundreds of messages, mentions, and friend requests. Moreover, everything happened by chance: a couple of hours before the match, I read an article in The Guardian, where they wrote about how many different plots are intertwined in this game, and an association with the corresponding Oksimiron song occurred to me.
As for the immediate preparation for the match, it all depends on which championship match I am commentating on. Lately I have been working on games of the Russian Premier League, Bundesliga, European Cups, and sometimes the English Premier League. If I need to comment on a match involving a completely unfamiliar team, I start by opening the lineup, going to English-language Wikipedia and studying the biographies of the players. I usually find out about the match I'm going to work seven to ten days in advance.
If I comment on an RFPL match, I read club websites, our digital resources Matchtv.ru and Sportbox.ru, as well as Sports.ru, because they employ authors who I like and trust. I registered on Sports a hundred years ago, I even had a blog there. In addition, when you comment on our football, you can call the press attache of the clubs - many of them are very helpful in helping you prepare for the game.
I collect everything that might be useful to me into a Word document and then print it out. There can be a lot of things there: who is injured, who is disqualified, who got into a fight with the coach, and who was kicked out, how the teams spent the last couple of months, who scored, who had what series, how the teams played last matches with each other and what matches they have next. This can be from three to five pages, and sometimes more.
Since I was 20, I have had a habit that has become like a ritual and at which some colleagues sometimes laugh. It is clear that all this is on the Internet, but before the match I always draw the team lineups on a piece of paper by hand, and for some players’ names I make some notes that are important to me.
In general, all commentators prepare for matches in different ways: some have a notebook, some sit with a laptop, some have a million tabs open on the monitor, and so on. I try to be less distracted by the Internet, because this can lead to missed moments in the game. On my computer I always open a website with live statistics, where I see the percentage of ball possession, the number of shots, interceptions and other information.
I don’t warm up on match day and don’t say the players’ names out loud. I think I was lucky with my heredity: I have a good timbre of my voice and normal diction. If I feel out of shape, I can read tongue twisters. Russians are simpler, Germans are more difficult. For example, this: “Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid” (“Red cabbage remains red cabbage, the bride’s dress remains the bride’s dress”).
Recently, during a report, my colleagues said that some football player plays like “my mother’s friend’s son” - the Internet exploded.
Workplace and commentary stamps
If I comment at Ostankino, then I sit in a booth where there is a computer and two more monitors with the same picture - the same as what the audience sees. A couple of times in my life I asked the director to turn on another match on the second monitor so that I could see out of the corner of my eye what was happening there. For example, this was when I commented on last round group stage of the Champions League, a match that had no significance, and in parallel, CSKA fought to leave the group.
Everything is the same at any stadium. Sound remote control, monitor, headphones. But when you work at the stadium, you practically don’t look at the screen, because on the field you see much more, because not everything is included in the frame. Commenting in the booth at Ostankino is a more routine job than going to the stadium: I like to arrive about two hours before the match to talk with press secretaries and exchange a few words with familiar players and coaches.
I don’t review or analyze my matches. As a rule, already during the broadcast I know what I did wrong and what was good. I don't think I use clichés. It is unlikely that I will say “goal to the locker room”, unless I use such a phrase ironically. But in general, commentators work at a very high speed, and sometimes you can accidentally blurt out some cliche. You say it by accident and immediately think: “Damn, why did I say that.”
I have two different modes of speech. Yes, among friends I can communicate in a relaxed way: for example, I can swear completely calmly, sometimes I even like to do it. By the way, I once read a study (not sure if it’s reliable, but I liked it) according to which using obscene words causes a surge of endorphins. But in the commentator’s booth I switch on a different mode, where swearing cannot slip through.
