Jan. 14, 2026, 11:03 a.m.
(Oleksandr Kucher. PHOTO: terrikon.com)
In Odesa, Chornomorets football club announced the termination of cooperation with its head coach Oleksandr Kucher. The decision to terminate the contract was made by mutual agreement of the parties.
This was reported by the press service of FC Chornomorets.
The club thanked Oleksandr Mykolayovych for their joint work and noted his contribution to the team's development. In particular, the club emphasized that in a difficult period for the country, the coach made every effort to ensure that the team continued to fight and give the fans positive emotions.
Oleksandr Kucher took over the helm of the Odesa club in March 2025. At that time, Chornomorets announced the transfer of the previous head coach Oleksandr Babych to the position of sporting director, and on the same day introduced a new coach, 42-year-old Kucher. At that time, he was better known to the general public as a footballer: he played more than 50 matches for the Ukrainian national team, playing as a central defender.
Kucher 's coaching career included two seasons with Kharkiv's Metalist football club, as well as one season with Dnipro-1, a club that no longer exists. His main task was to keep the team in the Ukrainian Premier League.
The first personnel decision of the new coach was to sign his long-term partner in the center of defense at Shakhtar Donetsk and the Ukrainian national team, Yaroslav Rakitskiy. The 35-year-old played 54 matches for the Ukrainian national team and participated in the 2012 and 2016 European Championships.
Recently, the club was at the center of a high-profile conflict over its children's and youth sports school. TheChornomorets football club claimed that the new owner of the residential buildings located on the territory of the sports school's base was trying to limit the children's training opportunities. According to the club's press service, Isagis, the company that owns the buildings, decided to raise the rent tenfold and restricted access to the territory for club employees.
As a result, a conflict arose, during which the owner of the residential buildings unilaterally restricted the stay of the general director and employees of the children's and youth school, and also engaged armed guards.<span><span><span><span><span><span> </span></span></span></span></span></span>
Анна Бальчінос