Another well-known coach is banned from working in Belarus, although he is reportedly not on any blacklists. What was his fault?

This story began to unfold in 2021. Zhukovsky worked at BATE that season — he officially took charge of the team on December 21, 2020, and left a year later. Under him, the Borisov team finished second in the championship and won the Cup.

The first half of the season, as informed sources tell, passed peacefully — no one from the Ministry of Sports bothered Zhukovsky or BATE. Everything changed with the Conference League qualification match in Batumi, where the Belarusian representative minimally defeated the local "Dinamo." More precisely, it wasn't even the match itself that changed things, but the fact that BATE midfielder Pavel Nyakhaychyk, after scoring the winning goal, ran to celebrate it in front of the stand with Belarusian fans. They displayed a white-red-white flag (it should be noted that there were no other Belarusian fans at the game).

This, according to "Tribuna," greatly angered the Minister of Sports and Tourism Sergei Kovalchuk. After some time, he summoned Kapsky and stated that players who allow themselves such actions should not be on the field. Other BATE players were also named, who were forbidden to play. At that moment, they were already on a compiled blacklist. These were goalkeeper Anton Chichkan, defenders Maksim Bordachev, Pavel Rybak, and Danila Nechaev, midfielders Dmitry Bessmertny, Stanislav Dragun, and striker Nikolai Signevich. All of them appeared in a video against violence in 2020.

Kovalchuk made it clear that if Kapsky did not comply, there could be consequences, without specifying what exactly they would be.

The head of BATE told Zhukovsky everything, and he... continued to field the players, continuing to fight for the result. Chichkan played 5 matches in the top league in the second round, Bordachev and Nechaev — 12 each, Rybak — 8, Bessmertny and Nyakhaychyk — 10 each (the latter captained in five matches), Dragun — 2 (was injured from June to October), Signevich — 11 (captain in one match).

A dissatisfied Kovalchuk reminded Kapsky of his recommendation, albeit without harsh threats.

BATE finished the season with silver, and on December 30, 2021, the club officially announced that Zhukovsky was leaving after his contract expired. According to "Tribuna" sources, if Kapsky had wanted, he could have kept the specialist: the agreement was structured as "1+1" — meaning there was an option to extend for another year. However, Kapsky, saying goodbye, told the coach that Kovalchuk allegedly forbade him from staying at the club — because he used "undesirable" footballers.

Zhukovsky looked for a new place — and soon learned that an order not to work with him had been sent to clubs from the Belarusian championship by Kovalchuk. The coach was not formally included in the blacklists, but the clubs were not eager to defy the order, even if the coach was of interest to them.

As a result, Zhukovsky was jobless until the end of summer 2022, when he signed a contract with Kazakhstan's "Atyrau." Since then, he has worked exclusively in Kazakhstan.

Since February of this year, the specialist has been jobless again, but in Belarus, according to "Tribuna" sources, he is still not allowed to work.

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