The collapse of the Spaniards in Moscow: " Homeland" fired the coach-legionnaire and his assistants

In the Russian Premier League came a long forced pause associated with the decision of FIFA to combine the September and October “windows” for matches of national teams around the world. Traditionally, in the first autumn break in the national tournament, RPL clubs conduct the first coaching changes, wanting to adjust their game in the League. This time, the results of nine rounds dictate their harsh conditions, the first to take such a step was decided by the capital’s “Homeland”, which announced on September 21 the termination of cooperation with the Spaniard Juan Diaz. Together with the 48-year-old Iberian specialist, the club left its entire coaching staff, which included Jose Serrano, Antonio Salas, Jose Romero, Juan Espinar and Carlos Nieto. It is worth recalling that many authoritative Russian coaches, who have achieved great victories both in domestic and international football, on the pages of MK, have repeatedly said that inviting a foreign coach inevitably entails landing his compatriots-assistants, who occupy the places of Russian specialists, not giving them the opportunity to get practice even as assistants. Moreover, in the event of termination of contracts, the club, in most cases, is forced to pay huge penalties not only to the head coach, but also to his entire retinue, which greatly increases financial losses - instead of directing these funds to the development of their schools and academies.

Juan Diaz headed the “Motherland” in September 2025. Prior to that, he worked for seven years in the system of the Spanish “Sevilla”, and the last two years he held exclusively administrative positions in the main and reserve teams. Nevertheless, he managed to achieve historic success: to lead the team to victory in the First League and provide “Rodina” exit in the RPL. For these achievements, the general director of the club Alexander Pogonin expressed gratitude to the Spaniard, noting that the decision to leave was made jointly on the basis of mutual respect. Pogonin stressed that any story has its end, and thanked Diaz for his ability to inspire footballers to win.

However, the dry numbers of the tournament paint a completely different picture. After nine rounds, Homeland has only five points in the asset and occupies the fifteenth, penultimate place. The team conceded twenty-two goals, which is the worst indicator among all the teams of the League. Before the start of the season, in mid-July, Diaz, in an interview with the press service, was well aware of the upcoming difficulties. He admitted that in the first five rounds he is waiting for matches against Spartak, Zenit and Dynamo, and the level of opponents is disproportionately higher. The specialist promised that his wards would grit their teeth, act compactly, reliably and aggressively, and their main weapon would be quick attacks. He called the Premier League a big home they had to fit into. However, in practice, the adaptation failed, which resulted in a record number of goals missed.

It is noteworthy that this season in the Premier League is just an invasion of Spanish coaches. A quarter of all RPL clubs, namely four teams out of sixteen, were managed by specialists from Spain. Juan Diaz had to face three of his compatriots. In the first round, Homeland expectedly lost to Spartacus, led by Juan Carlos Carcedo, with a score of 0: 3. In the second round, a productive match with “Rostov” Honatan Alba was held, which ended with a victory for the southerners with a score of 4: 2, and both teams scored auto goals: the Slovene Mitya Krizhan “excelled” in Muscovites, and the Ivorian Umar Sako struck his own goal. In the ninth round, which became the last for Diaz, “Homeland” played a draw 1: 1 with “Ruby” Frank Artighi. The goals were marked by Colombian legionnaires: Daver Machado from Muscovites and Anderson Arroyo from Kazan.

The emotional burnout of the coach became obvious after the eighth round, when on September 11, Homeland lost to the Wings of the Soviets with a score of 1: 2. Then Diaz in a fit of emotions said that he sees no sense in the analysis, and the reason for the defeat was the exceptionally bad work of the coach himself, that is, himself.

At the same time, the Spaniard cannot be denied his sincerity and emotional attachment to Russia and the Moscow club. In his summer comments, he admitted that Russian culture had become deeply embedded in his life, and the habit of saying “thank you” instead of “gracias” in Spanish cafes was a confirmation of this. Diaz said he had a tattoo on his leg dedicated to Moscow. The appearance of “Rodina” in the elite division, he put on a par with the victories of “Sevilla”, where he worked previously in European tournaments. A special role in the life of the coach was played by the family, who created a fan page of the club on social networks, organizing the so-called Seville “pen”, or fan club, and regularly sent him photos before matches in scarves of “Homeland”. Diaz claimed that "Homeland" will forever remain in his heart.

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Now the reins of the team, which will resume the championship on October 11 with a guest match against CSKA, took on the 43-year-old Barsegh Kirakosyan. Previously, he coached “Rodina-2”, and at the end of summer 2025 already acted as head coach of the base. He will be helped by Alexander Dimidko, known for his performances as a football player, for Dynamo Moscow and SKA-Khabarovsk, and Egor Novosadov. Spanish expansion to the “Rodina” failed, although it was quite expected – beginners rarely immediately begin to show good results in the RPL. Perhaps it was worth immediately turning to the services of Russian specialists. At the very least, it would fit the name of the team.