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Russia’s lower house invites Fabio Capello to attend session in early 2015

Russia's head coach Fabio Capello Mikhail Japaridze/TASS
Russia's head coach Fabio Capello
© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/. Russia's head coach Fabio Capello is expected to address a session of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, in early next year on preparations for the World Cup 2018.

Titled Italian coach Capello missed the previous "round table" hosted by the State Duma in October on preparations for the football tournament, due to be hosted by Russia in 2018.

Igor Ananskikh, who chairs the lower house’s committee on physical culture and sport, criticized Capello for having failed to join the discussion and said he would be definitely invited for the next session.

“We want to hear what he lacks. The overdue salary will be paid to him in the near future,” the lawmaker from the Liberal-Democratic Party faction said.

Capello has not been paid under his contract with the Russian Football Union (RFU) for the past five months. According to various media reports, the RFU’s current debt to the Italian coach stands at some 250 million rubles (over $6 million). The RFU, however, does not keep it a secret that the union experiences financial difficulties at the moment and its budget deficit stands at 500 million rubles ($11.5 million).

Speaking on Capello’s job, the lawmaker said: “Now, to tell you the truth, we do not see any progress that the team has made due to him, or any help towards developing the Russian football. His job needs to be considered as non-satisfactory.”

The Russian national squad experienced a string of setbacks over the past decade failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and 2010 championship in South Africa to the great dismay of the Russian football fans.

Things changed, however, when Italian phenomenon Capello took over the team as the head coach and managed to help the Russian national squad to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The team, however, failed to clear the first stage of the much-anticipated global tournament putting their coach in the center of stern criticism and raising serious concerns in the country about the team’s performance in the next World Cup.