Trebor Mahtal secured the 24th league title of his 37-year Football Manager career as he led Rijeka to the 2059/60 Croatian title. The Zambian’s career was very much in its twilight period, but he was keen to push on for another season or two.
Mahtal’s successes left Belarus, Bulgaria, Gibraltar, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Northern Ireland and Poland as the only European nations he needed to conquer outside the big seven. A couple of interesting jobs were already available, one in Belarus and one in Poland, so Mahtal applied and was rapidly offered an interview and a vacant role by one of the clubs. He was more intrigued by the other vacant role, but that never materialised, so on 16 June 2060 Mahtal was headed for Belarus.
Who Are BATE Borisov?
ФК БАТЭ Барысаў or FK BATE Borisov is a Belarusian professional club from the city of Barysaw. BATE – which stands for Borisov Automobile and Tractor Electronics – was founded in 1973 and managed to win Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic league three times in the 1970s before being disbanded in 1984. It was reformed in 1996 and became the most successful Belarus club heading into this save with 15 domestic titles, including 13 consecutively between 2006 and 2018. BATE also won the first season of this save and again in 2029 but has only added one more in the last 31 years, back in 2048. Dinamo Brest have taken over, winning the last seven titles, 11 of the last 12 and 16 of the last 19.
BATE play at the imaginatively-named 12,047-capacity BATE Stadium, which was built in 2042. It has decent infdrastructure of 16 youth facilities, 14 training facilities, 12 junior coaching and 11 youth recruitment. However, it only has £4.5m in the bank, a transfer budget of £m and a wage budget of £104k, of which £40k is spare.
Last season, BATE dropped to 4th, but only missed out on the title by 2 points in a title race that saw the top seven separated by just 7 points. But they’ve dropped off hugely this season, sitting 12th out of 16 teams with just 14 points from 13 matches – trailing leaders Isloch by 13 points.
Winger Ilya Domaschuk is comfortably the best player at the club but out for five months with a damaged achilles tendon, followed by defenders Alexey Golubev and Mik Balsgaard, holding midfielder Petr Garapuchik, Russian winger Sergey Tkachenko and 6ft 7in centre back Dmitriy Prokhorov. But there was plenty of potential in first teamers midfielder Denis Petrov and attackers Stanislav Samaev and Sergey Shevchenko, and in the youth sides in full back Oleg Kovalev, midfielder Dmitriy Prokhorov (whose name is very similar to the defender!), goalkeeper Dmitriy Abramovich and winger Evgeniy Tishkevich.
Mahtal’s reputation helped him pick up a doozy of a free transfer as 18-year-old Serbian striker Ivan Josimovic for some reason chose BATE over AC Milan. He immediately became not only the best player at BATE but in Belarus, but did insist on a worrying £250k minimum fee clause.
Mahtal initially cooked up a wild-looking 3-4-3 approach that papered over the clear gaps in the playing squad. But, the more he looked at it, he enjoyed the way the formation suited the players available.
Straight Into Belarussian Football
Despite their poor league position, BATE are third-favourites for the Belarussian Highest League with title odds of 7/1 behind Dinamo Brest and Dinamo Minsk (8/11 and 11/2). While current leaders Isloch have title odds of 250/1.
Mahtal was thrown straight into the toughest game in Belarus, a trip to holders Dinamo Brest. And his time in Belarus started well as Samaev curled into the top corner from a tight angle after half an hour. They had the better of the game with 13 shots to sven and 59% possession and just about held on for a vital 1-0 victory that moved them within 7 points of Brest in 3rd.
Strikers Sasa Milutinovic, who’s scored 10 in 18 so far this season, and Mutlu Ozcan earned Mahtal a 2-0 win over Gazovik on his home debut. Then Josimovic bagged two second-half goals in his second game to edge a 2-1 at Shakhter Soligorsk and lift BATE into 6th. But they weren’t done there as they thrashed Volna Pinsk 4-0 led by a Milutinovic brace, rotated sides (see below) claimed consecutive 0-0s before Josimovic’s goal led a 3-0 win over Arsenal Dzerzhinsk and Shevchenko nicked a 1-1 at Isloch.
Unexpected Conference League Action
Early in Mahtal’s reign, BATE entered his beloved Europa Conference League in the first qualifying round. They eased past Georgian side Samgurali Tskhaltubo 6-3 then Prokhorov and Milutinovic earned a 2-0 win over Qarabag before a superb 3-1 win in Azerbaijan. Samaev’s late goal in Slovenia earned a 2-1 deficit against Mura and proved crucial as they won 3-1 in Salzburg (one of several neutral locations where BATE’s home European games are played). Next up was a much tougher challenge against Basaksehir, with the first leg in Turkey with two of their starting centre backs injured. BATE did well to only lose 1-0 then win a wild game 4-3 in Poland, before losing to a 98th-minute extra time penalty.
Creeping Into Contention
The European exit allowed Mahtal to fully focus on the league and give his players some rest. And that paid off as Josimovic scored twice in a 4-1 win at struggling Viktorija and bagged a hat trick in a 5-1 thumping of Vitebsk and got the opener in a 2-1 win at Minsk. Milutinovic maintained his form with a brace in a 3-1 win at Minsk, which saw Mahtal pass the board objective to stay in the division.
But his objectives were far higher, as a Belorusskoe klassiko victory over Dinamo Minsk left them just 2 points off the top of the table and in the heart of a seven-way title battle going into the final five games! Even Mahtal was taken aback by this sudden surge, which had been caused by Dinamo Brest dropping points in four of their last six games – largely fuelled by getting battered in the Europa League league phase every week – and Isloch dropping points in four of the last five.
Total outsiders Gazovik (who were 10th favourites for the title) arguably had the easiest run-in along with Dinamo Brest, and BATE played both in their last two games.
Game 1 – Naftan (16th, away): BATE’s run-in began at bottom-side Naftan, who offered no challenge to BATE, scored an own goal after 4 minutes and BATE won 3-0. Elsewhere, Gazovik won 2-0, Vitebsk drew 0-0, Isloch won 3-0 and Shakhter won 3-1, but Dinamo Brest lost 3-2 at home to Neman Grodno to drop to 6th! That meant the top six were separated by 2 points with four to play.
Game 2 – Leskhoz (13th, home): BATE’s star player Domaschuk finally returned on the bench after six months out. But they didn’t need to risk him as they dominated by 34 shots to four and Milutinovic’s brace led an easy 4-1 win. Gazovik nicked a 1-0 at Neman, Isloch and Shakhter won 2-1, Vitebsk won 3-0 but Dinamo Brest’s capitulation continued with a 3-1 defeat at Arsenal, which made it three consecutive defeats and one win in six. So the top five were now separated by 2 points with Dinamo 3 points back in 6th.
Game 3 – Dnepr-Mogilev (7th, away): BATE maintained their relentless form as another own goal from a corner and a brilliant late solo goal by Mutlu edged a 2-0 win. Gazovik beat Arsenal 1-0, Isloch drew 1-1 at Dinamo Brest, who officially dropped out of the title race, Vitebsk lost 2-1 at Leskhoz, and Shakhter won 3-0. That took BATE 2nd, trailing Gazovik by 1 point, level with Shakhter, 2 points clear of Isloch, and 4 clear of Vitebsk with two games remaining.
Game 4 – Dinamo Brest (6th, home): Dinamo may have been out of the title race, but they could still decide it. Domaschuk finally made his return and his team got a great start, battering the Brest goal with 11 shots in half an hour and Prokhorov made one count as he headed home a corner. They continued to dominate and Milutinovic won and converted a penalty just after half time then hit the bar with a ludicrous dipping 30-yard effort. Out of nowhere, Brest scored their first and only attack, but Domaschuk showed with his quality with a superb cross for Milutiovic to double his tally. Ludicrously, Gazovik drew 1-1 at Isloch and Shakhter drew 1-1 at Neman to send BATE top of the league for the first time all season going into the final day!
To win the league, BATE would have to do it the hard way as they travelled to 2nd-place Gazovik. BATE led their opponents by 1 point with Shakhter a further point back. Gazovik has never won a single honor in the club’s entire history, but Shakhter has won eight titles, most recently in 2041, while BATE’s last title was 12 years ago in 2048.
Game 5 – Gazovik (2nd, away): The whole of Belarus was supporting minnows Gazovik, who were hoping to win their first-ever competition by lifting the national title – which would be ridiculous. And most f Belarus celebrated as the hosts got a flyer, getting in down the right and slamming home from two yards after 48 seconds. But BATE responded rapidly as Josimovic’s superb through-ball put Shevchenko in to slam past the keeper. And they were soon in front as Milutinovic passed to Josimovic, who was looking unplayable as he held off his marker and drilled it into the top corner from 20 yards. Gazovik grew into the game and hit the bar twice with a header on 68 minutes and a 25-yard potshot five minutes later. But BATE held firm and made sure of it through young midfielder Dim Prokhorov’s 20-yard screamer.
BATE Borisov won the Belarussian Highest League and tied Dinamo Brest’s record 19 titles!
BATE won the title with 59 points, 4 clear of Gazovik and Isloch, after 17 wins, 8 draws and 5 defeats, scoring 60 and conceding 31. Ridiculously, they didn’t lose a single league game under Mahtal, having lost five of their first 13, and took 45 points from the Zambian’s 16 games in charge. The Josimovic signing was instrumental as the striker had a league-high 7.43 average rating ahead of the 7.32 of Milutinovic, who was the league’s second-top scorer with 16 goals.
Celebrating An Unlikely Title Success
Mahtal couldn’t quite believe he’d led BATE to the Belarussian title. They’d been massively assisted by their rivals’ form falling apart, but a superb unbeaten run led BATE to their 19th title. Miltuibovic led the way with 23 goals in 41 games followed by Josimovic (14 in 24), Mtlu and Prokhorov (7) and Shevchenko (6). Shevchenko led the way with 9 assists followed by Garapuchik (8) and Milutinovic (7). And the club was also boosted by a strong youth intake boasting four 5-star potential talents.
Mahtal was tempted to stay in Belarus and use the momentum of this season to lead BATE to a record-breaking 20th title and into Champions League football. But he was well aware that time was against him, so would keep an eye out for potential opportunities elsewhere in Europe.
Would Mahtal stay at BATE or seek a new opportunity elsewhere? Join us on Monday to find out!
Football Manager Addict 
Leave a comment