Mateo Cassierra got out of the picture when he definitively left Ajax in 2019. More than two years later, the Colombian striker makes himself heard from the Russian Premjer Liga. Ajax’s bad buy can now call itself club top scorer of PFC Sochi, the club that performs surprisingly well and attacks the established order in the Russian top competition.
In the summer of 2016, director of football affairs Marc Overmars conjured two Colombians out of the top hat: Davinson Sánchez and Mateo Cassierra, a defender and an attacker. Where the former cost 5 million euros, the latter was 500,000 euros more expensive. The arrival of Sánchez turned out to be a golden move, attracting Cassierra was not. Cassierra regularly played in the 2016/17 season, but then trainer Peter Bosz often preferred Kasper Dolberg and Bertrand Traoré in the vanguard. Where Sánchez had already become untenable for Ajax after one very strong season and left for Tottenham Hotspur for 42 million euros, Cassierra dropped off to Young Ajax in the 2017/18 season.
Cassierra seemed to be walking around De Toekomst with his soul under his arm. He did not like another season with the promises of the Amsterdam team and because he was also not eligible for a place in the main squad, he was rented out to FC Groningen in the summer of 2018. His stay with the Pride of the North ended in disappointment. Halfway through the season, the lease between Ajax and FC Groningen was dissolved, and Cassierra returned to Amsterdam to be immediately rented out to Racing Club for a year and a half. However, the attacker did not get a chance in Argentina either and it was therefore no surprise that the option to buy was not lifted. In fact, after just over six months, Cassierra’s stay in Argentina came to an end.
Cassierra had failed at Ajax, FC Groningen and Racing Club. Nevertheless, the Portuguese Belenenses saw potential in the Colombian. In the summer of 2019, Ajax announced that it had reached an agreement with the Portuguese club about the transfer fee. Belenenses bought Cassierra’s contract, which runs until mid-2021, for an undisclosed amount and took him home. Both parties were finally freed from each other and better times were ahead for Cassierra. At Belenenses, he played weekly and scored fourteen times in two seasons in the Primeira Liga, ten of which were in the last football season. His performance sparked interest from several clubs. The Russian PFC Sochi was interested in his arrival and paid 1.2 million euros last summer to bring him home. So far this transfer is working out well, because Cassierra seems to feel like a fish in water in the Russian competition.
At PFC Sochi, Cassierra ended up at a club that did not even exist before June 2018. The origin of this club has a political background. The Russian government wanted the Fisht Olympic Stadium to be inaugurated. This stadium, which can accommodate more than 44,000 spectators, was built for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi and was the setting for six matches at the 2018 World Cup. The stadium had cost half a billion euros to build and it was not allowed. happen that it would go unused. It led to the creation of PFC Sochi, which took over the license from Dinamo Saint Petersburg. The latter club ceased to exist and was renamed PFC Sochi and moved to the Black Sea resort, more than 2,300 kilometers away. Almost all football players of Dinamo Saint Petersburg went along and were then allowed to call themselves players of Sochi.
The now 64-year-old Russian billionaire Boris Romanovich Rotenberg, a former judo friend of President Vladimir Putin, owned Dinamo Saint Petersburg since 2015 and was asked by the Kremlin to continue his football project in Sochi. And so it happened. In the summer of 2018, PFC Sochi started a new season in the Football National League (FNL), the second tier of the Russian football pyramid. “They were instructions from above,” said Ivan Zhidkov, editor-in-chief of Sports Den Za Dnemlast month in conversation with Goal. “Saint Petersburg has never wanted more than one football club in the city. Everyone there is a fan of Zenit. Dinamo did not have a good base and infrastructure to remain viable. In addition, it was very important that Fisht was put into use because it is an ultra-modern stadium, possibly the best in the country.”
PFC Sochi aimed to promote to the Premjer Liga within two years. That goal was reached after just one season. In the first season after its foundation, Sochi finished in second place in the league and promoted to the top division. With the help of Zenit Saint Petersburg, a strong team was then built in the summer of 2019 with which it had to be possible to secure enforcement. No fewer than eight players from Zenit came to Sochi, some of them on a rental basis. The large number of players who switched from Zenit to Sochi raised suspicions among football fans. It was believed that Gazprom, main sponsor of Zenit, would have financial interests in Sochi. It was therefore also expected in Russia that Sochi would always lose against Zenit. The first four confrontations between the two clubs also ended in victories for the top club from Saint Petersburg. However, the two clubs are completely independent from each other and Sochi officials have denied any conflict of interest.
?? One of the best goals on #RPL Week 13
?? Use another European club name to describe FC Sochi’s combination #Sochi pic.twitter.com/UjCH1C4FGK
— Russian Premier League (@premierliga_en) Nov 2, 2021
Sochi has now booked its first victory against Zenit. On September 18, 2019, Sochi was 2-1 too strong for the Russian top club in a season in which a handsome fifth place was secured. Sochi qualified for the preliminary rounds of the Conference League. However, in the third preliminary round, Partizan Belgrade proved too strong after a penalty shootout and so the club still has to wait for the European debut. Cassierra was not yet employed by Sochi at the time. The Colombian striker only made the switch from Belenenses to Russia at the end of August and has now found his niche. On September 12, he graced his basic debut in front of his own audience with a goal in the 3-1 win against UFA. The ex-Ajacied’s counter now stands at five goals in seven league matches. Partly due to his contribution, PFC Sochi can be found in a good third place in the ranking after thirteen rounds, with a five-point deficit on leader Zenit-Saint-Petersburg.
On Sunday afternoon, Cassierra experienced its absolute peak in Sochi’s service. In the match against Arsenal Tula, he opened the score after 78 seconds by heading the ball against the ropes on the advice of Christian Nobao. He not only signed for the fastest goal this season in Russia, but also for the fastest goal ever on behalf of Sochi at the highest level. After Evans Kangwa put the 1-1 on the scoreboard after the break, it was Cassierra who scored the winning goal for trainer Vladimir Fedotov’s team. “Sochi may not have the strongest team in the league, but they play well organized with a solid strategy, unlike many bigger clubs,” Zhidkov explained in conversation with Goal. “Fedotov is a very good trainer, who works in good harmony with Andrey Orlov, the technical director. There is a healthy atmosphere within the club. It would therefore not surprise me if Sochi continues to compete at the top until the end of the season.”
Whether Sochi will eventually be able to finally hook up with the Russian top remains to be seen. The problem is that the club is located in a city where football is not alive. The previous club, Zhemchuzhina Sochi, only played at the highest level in 1992 and 2000, before the curtain fell in 2003. “The stadium is far too far from the city center. In addition, it is not easy to convince people to watch football. However, the Black Sea is a popular destination for away supporters who travel after clubs like Zenit and Spartak Moscow. For them it is a great opportunity to support their club in combination with a short vacation,” said Zhidkov. PFC Sochi may become a regular name in European football in the coming years. It cannot be ruled out that Sochi will become a popular destination for visiting fans. After all, there are so many beautiful stadiums near the beach.