Soviet football player, Russian coach, known for working with the national team of Cameroon and many Russian clubs Valery Nepomnyashchy in an interview with Sports.ru internet portal, he told how he was born in the Altai Krai and ended up in Turkmenistan as a child. The famous coach started his sports career on the Turkmen soil.
— "As for Turkmenistan: my mother lost my older brother at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. In June 1941, he was sent to a pioneer camp between Moscow and Leningrad, then the war began. The pioneer camps were evacuated and for some reason slipped past Moscow. In the end, my brother ended up near Alma-Ata, where there is a Malaya Stanitsa. My mother found my brother five years later — in 1946, when I was born. In Alma-Ata, my brother graduated from the Railway Technical School, and was sent to Turkmenistan for work. And we went there as a small family. My childhood and youth were spent there," Nepomnyashchy said.
The former striker of the youth national team of Turkmenistan also spoke about the pleasant memories left during his stay in Gyzylarbat (now Serdar) and Ashgabat.
— "When we lived in Gyzylarbat, the civilian population was about 15 thousand people, one city-forming enterprise-a car repair plant. My brother worked there as a design engineer. There were several military units, two military airfields where jet fighters were first tested, because in the local heat, the speed of sound is overcome differently. There was an impressive military intelligentsia in Gyzylarbat. For example, the wives of officers with rich experience worked as teachers. I studied in Gyzylarbat, then in Ashgabat — and the level of education was very high. I have the most pleasant memories," said Valery Kuzmich.
In 1969, Valery Nepomnyashchy graduated from the Turkmen State University. At the beginning of his coaching career, he worked as a senior coach of the Football School of the Sports Committee of Turkmenistan (1970-1978, 1983-1988). A few years later, Valery Nepomnyashchy headed the football club Kolhozchi Ashgabat, where many of his wards played. Valery Nepomnyashchy told under what circumstances he became a football coach.
– "My older friend at that time worked as the director of the stadium, he had a group of children born in 1954, who played quite successfully on the child tournament "Leather ball". And he gave me this group. Then a youth football school was opened in Ashgabat, and I went there with this group. The guys were 14 years old, then I started officially coaching. Brought the group to 18 years old and took a new one. I worked with children and young people and never wanted to work in a professional team, but it turned out that the guys from three editions at the same time – 8 people – were invited to the secnd team of FC Kolkhozchi from the First League. And in 1979, seven of them were accepted to the master’s team, and I was almost ordered to lead it. The Chairman of the sports Committee then said: your guys are there, only you can help them. And I wanted to go to a High School of Coaches, but they didn't take those who worked with children and young people. Therefore, I took the word from the Chairman that I would work for a year, and then he would help me enter the Moscow Higher School of Coaches. So it happened: I went to Moscow and studied for two years. Then I returned and coached the national team of Turkmenistan," Nepomnyashchy said.
In 1988, a call came from Cameroon, as a result of which Valery Nepomnyashchy went to Africa. He told how a specialist from Turkmenistan got a job in Cameroon. This was the beginning of the coach's travels around the world: China, Turkey, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Uzbekistan. In these countries, he trained more than a dozen teams-headed the Pakhtakor Tashkent FK, Uzbekistan national football team, Chinese Shanghai Shenhua, Shandong Luneng, Shenyang Haishi, Japanese Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Korean Bucheon SK, Turkish Ankaragücü and Gençlerbirliği, Russian Tom Tomsk andBaltika Kaliningrad, was a member of the coaching staff of FPC CSKA Moscow
— "In Soviet times, coaches were sent to North Africa for two years: different groups came, followed the work, helped and gained experience. Somewhere in the beginning of March, the sports Committee receives an order for the fifth or sixth time: to prepare documents for travel abroad for Nepomnyashchy. It is indicated that I am going to train the youth team of Suriname. I think: all right, let's go to Suriname. When May or June comes, I am invited to Moscow and told that it is not possible to go to Suriname, there are two options — either Morocco or Cameroon. Are you feeling better? I said I didn't care. I would go anywhere. When I was told that I would be sent to Cameroon, I even tensed and did not believe it. Cameroon was still a decent force in football. In 1988, he won the African Cup, and in 1982, I saw the team at the FIFA World Cup in Spain, when I went with other coaches to prepare materials for the USSR national football team. Cameroon and then I liked it. I arrived there on November 2, and on the 8th the tournament of the UDEAC Cup began. And it was necessary to prepare the team in a very short time, I did not understand how to do it at all. By the way, a little later I was joined by Lev Brovarskyi ex-captain of the FC Karpaty Lviv, who won the USSR Cup. Compared to me, it's a star. We worked with him," Valery Nepomnyashchy shared his memories.
At the 1990 FIFA World Cup, under the leadership of Nepomnyashchy, the Cameroon national football team achieved the best result in its history, reaching the quarterfinals. Neither before nor after that, the team did not overcome the group stage. Nepomnyashchy became the first coach in the world who managed to reach the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup with an African team.
Recall that at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, in the first match, the team of Cameroon beat the current champion – the national team of Argentina led by Diego Maradona with a score of 1:0. Victory over Romania 2:1 and the defeat of the USSR – 0:4 allowed the Cameroonians from the first place to get into the 1/8 final, where was defeated Colombia 2:1. And only two steps before the final wards of the forgetful stopped England, defeating Cameroon in extra time – 3:2. In memory of the achievement under the leadership of Nepomnyashchy in the capital of Cameroon – Yaounde, appeared Valery street.
