Vitaliy Levchenko has been appointed head coach of Dushanbe-based Istiklol, the club’s press service announced.
The agreement is for one year. Levchenko replaces Igor Cherevchenko, who left the position due to health reasons.
Last season Istiklol won the Tajik league title for the 14th time, but failed to progress from their group in the AFC Champions League Two.
For Levchenko this is not his first spell at Istiklol. He previously worked with the Dushanbe side with notable success, winning the domestic championship twice and leading them into the AFC Champions League knockout stages for the first time in the team’s history.
Levchenko said he was pleased to return to a side with ambitious goals and stressed that he would make every effort to achieve them. Those targets are likely to include trophies on the domestic front as well as success in the AFC Challenge League, which Istiklol will compete in this autumn.
During the off-season, the champions parted ways with all of last year’s foreign players, as well as one of their key figures, Ehson Panjshanbe. So far, Istiklol have announced the signing of Ukrainian forward Dmytro Bilonoh, who was among the league’s top scorers last season with Vakhsh, and have also brought back Tajik midfielder Daler Sharipov from Uzbekistan.
Tajik fans on social media have welcomed Levchenko’s return. Many hope that in time he could take charge of the national team, which is currently battling for qualification for the Asian Cup. The side is presently coached by Serbian manager Goran Stevanovic.
Levchenko first took charge of Istiklol in 2020. Under his guidance the team won the Tajik championship twice and in 2021 reached the AFC Champions League knockout rounds for the first time in their history.
In the summer of 2022 he moved to Uzbekistan to take over Neftchi, who were on the brink of relegation from the top flight, and managed to keep them up. The following year the Fergana-based side finished fifth and stayed in the medal race in the Uzbek Super League until the final rounds. In 2025 Neftchi went on to win the Uzbek championship.