Vadim Vasilyev (businessman)

Vadim Vasilyev

Personal information
Date of birth	(1965-09-23) 23 September 1965

Vadim Vasilyev (born 23 September 1965) is the Vice President of the French football club AS Monaco FC. He was appointed to that position on 8 August 2013 and has since played a key role in developing AS Monaco's team, including a number of high-profile signings completed during the 2013 Summer transfer window.^[1]

Education and career

Vasilyev graduated with a degree in economics from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1987.^[2]

He worked for the Soviet Union’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1987 to 1990, during which he was posted to Soviet Embassy in Iceland.

Following his diplomatic career, he then worked for a number of different private companies, including Uralkali,^[3] the world's leading producer of potash, where he was Director of Exports. Later on, he established his own company and worked as an entrepreneur developing several different businesses.

Football Management career

Vasilyev had always had a strong knowledge of and great interest in football – both the Russian domestic game and club football across Europe. In January 2013, he started working as an advisor to the President of AS Monaco, Dmitry Rybolovlev, helping the club to complete a number of significant transfer deals during the Winter window of 2012–2013. During that period as an advisor he developed a strong working relationship with key executives at AS Monaco as well further developing his knowledge of the transfer market and team management. He was subsequently asked to join the club on a permanent basis and became the sporting director on 25 March 2013. He became then Vice President during the summer 2013.

In the role of sporting director, Vasilyev is in charge of management of the first team, player recruitment and the scouting service, the coaching staff, the medical service and the academy.

Following his appointment, his first objective was to ensure that the club achieved promotion to Ligue 1 during the 2012–2013 season, thereby returning to the top flight of French football only two years after AS Monaco's relegation to Ligue 2 in 2011. This goal was achieved comfortably as AS Monaco ended the season as Ligue 2 Champions.

After achieving the first goal of promotion back to Ligue 1, Vasilyev has been closely focused on managing the club's summer transfer window.^[4] During this transfer window, Vasilyev has targeted the recruitment of major players – both French and foreign – that he and the club believe will help them achieve their objective of becoming a major force in Ligue 1 during the 2013–14 season. The high profile new recruits include: Éric Abidal,^[5] Jérémy Toulalan, Ricardo Carvalho, Nicolas Isimat-Mirin, Radamel Falcao,^[6] Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez.^[7][8]

Together with the president of the club, Vasilyev has set ambitious goals for the performance of the team in the coming season. He said that the primary goal is to qualify for the Champions League and be able to play in the competition in the 2014–15 season.^[9] Vasilyev was quoted as saying: "We are very ambitious and we have great hopes, but winning the title is of course very difficult. Ligue 1 is a high-level and demanding championship, with very good and experienced teams. Our primary goal is to qualify and play the Champions league as soon as possible."

Vasilyev has also expressed a view on the ongoing dialogue between AS Monaco and the French football authorities, suggesting that French football overall can benefit greatly from the development of Monaco and the influx of new and exciting talent to the League. He said recently: "We are in a dialogue with LFP and FFF. Most important is that French Football will benefit a lot from AS Monaco FC. We are adversaries only on the pitch, after we need to work together to improve the level of the league. That’s our goal." ^[10]

As of 15 October 2013, Vasilyev assumed the role of Director General as well as Vice President of AS Monaco. ^[11]

References