Yuri Puntus

Yuri Puntus
Personal information
Full nameYuri Iosifovich Puntus
Date of birth8 October 1960
Place of birthTivoli, Belarusian SSR
Playing positionStriker
Club information
Current team
Slavia-Mozyr (head coach)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1977–1979Traktor Minsk
1979–1980Granit Mikashevichi
1980Lokomotiv Baranovichi
1981–1986Sputnik Minsk
1986Spartak Semipalatinsk
1994Samotlor-XXI Nizhnevartovsk2(0)
Teams managed
1987–1990Sputnik Minsk (assistant)
1991–1992Luch Minsk (assistant)
1993Dinamo Yakutsk (assistant)
1994Samotlor-XXI Nizhnevartovsk (assistant)
1995Rybak Starodubskoye (assistant)
1996–2004BATE Borisov
2000–2005Belarus U-21
2004–2006MTZ-RIPO Minsk
2006–2007Belarus
2007–2009MTZ-RIPO Minsk
2009–2011Dinamo Brest
2011–2013Smolevichi-STI
2014–Slavia-Mozyr
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Yuri Puntus (Belarusian: Юры Іосіфавіч Пунтус; Russian: Юрий Иосифович Пунтус) (born 8 October 1960) is a Soviet football player and a Belarusian football coach. He quit playing football in 1987 because of an injury. Graduated from two universities: Belarusian Technological Institute (specialty - mechanical engineer) in 1983 and Belarusian State University of Physical Training in 1996.[1]

Managerial career

After wirking for a few seasons in Russian and Belarusian lower leagues' clubs, in 1996 Puntus was appointed as a head coach for newly-reformed BATE Borisov. Puntus led the team to the Belarusian Premier League in just two seasons and eventually won two championship titles (in 1999 and 2002).

In 2004 Puntus joined MTZ-RIPO Minsk and led the team to winning Belarusian Cup in 2005. In January 2006 he was appointed as Belarus national football team head coach and later that year he left MTZ-RIPO to focus on national team's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. In late 2007 he was sacked due to unsatisfying results and immediately rejoined MTZ-RIPO, before leading them to another Cup title in 2008.

In the following years Puntus coached Dinamo Brest (from 2009 to 2011), Smolevichi-STI (from 2011 to 2013), whom he led to the promotion from Second League to First League, and Slavia Mozyr, whom he joined in early 2014.[2]

References