In Irkutsk, a new football club, Radian Baikal, has been created after the former Zvezda disappeared, excluded from the professional league because of debts and rule violations. The team will train at Lokomotiv stadium, and its core will be Irkutsk players with support from an investor and the regional government. In April the club will go to a preseason tournament in Barnaul, and in mid May it will start in the Russian championship, where it will fight for promotion to the second division.

A new football club, “Radian-Baikal,” has been created in Irkutsk. Let us recall that the local “Zvezda” ceased to exist last season. Then, for the first time in its many-year history, the Irkutsk football club “Zvezda” was excluded from the Russian Professional Football League because of financial debts and violations of the regulations.

“Football in the Angara region will still live on. The revival of the football club under the new name ‘Radian-Baikal’ is connected with the interest shown by a serious investor — the Radian group of companies,” said Boris Puzynya, Minister of Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy of the Irkutsk Region, Boris Puzynya.
According to him, the footballers will train and play at Irkutsk’s Lokomotiv stadium, which has a high-quality artificial surface.
“Since the stadium is an unfinished construction project, and the land on which it stands belongs to Russian Railways, legal issues regarding its status are now being resolved,” the minister said.
In turn, the president of the football club “Radian-Baikal,” Valery Trufanov, said that “such a serious step — maintaining a football team in a time of crisis — could only be taken with support from the government of the Irkutsk Region.”
“The football team is headed by people well known to Irkutsk fans. One of the best defenders, Oleg Yakovlev, became head coach. Another coach, Vyacheslav Rudakov, was rightly considered one of the best forwards in Siberian football. By the way, at first, while the team is still ‘raw,’ and four leading Irkutsk footballers have left for teams in Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk, our coaches will be actively playing,” V. Trufanov said.
He emphasized that the team’s core roster will be formed from footballers from Irkutsk and the region, but it is also planned to invite legionnaires from other cities in the country.
V. Trufanov noted that “since a private football club is being created, we will keep the budget with a two-month reserve.”
According to him, preliminary estimates put expenses at no less than 1 million rubles per month.
“The players’ kit will be white and red. We will organize the fans into a fan club; T-shirts with the number 12 have been prepared for them. For the most devoted fans, we will hold a car raffle. Those who attend all matches of the season will be able to take part in the lottery,” the president of the football club said.
According to him, as soon as all legal issues regarding Lokomotiv stadium are resolved, it will need to be landscaped and improved for the comfortable training and rest of the athletes.
On April 3, “Radian-Baikal” is heading to Barnaul, where it will play in the traditional preseason tournament of third-division teams.
“Radian-Baikal” will begin the Russian championship in mid-May. In addition to the Irkutsk team, nine more contenders will compete for a ticket to the second division.