Fabio Capello has been in charge of the Russian national team since and he has so far done a stellar job. He has managed to qualify for the World Cup 2014 automatically ahead of favourite Portugal. This seems to have increased his stock within the national team Federation, who are ready to offer him a new contract according to the sports minister Vitaly Mutko. He has revealed that Capello will be signing a new contract as early as in the next few weeks. Capello was criticised for his spell with the England national team, as he was unable to take them past to the quarter-final stage of major tournaments.

It is expected that the Italian will sign a new four-year contract, which will take them beyond the Euro 2016 in France. This was the first time that Russia have managed to sustain their expectations after Guus Hiddink took them to the Euro 2008 semifinals. The 67-year-old is one of the experienced coaches in the world after having overseen some of the biggest clubs in the world like Real Madrid and Juventus. However, this is only his second job in international football.

“I can say that an agreement in principle between the coach and the RFU has been reached. As far as I know, his lawyer will come to Moscow on November 21-22 and everything should be settled. There are several options for the date of the signing of the new agreement but probably everything will be officially formalised after the draw for the World Cup finals,” Mutko said. Russia are undefeated in all competitions since their 1-0 loss against Northern Ireland back in August of this year.

Russia are not expected to win the World Cup, but a place in the quarter-finals or even in the semifinals will be a great achievement.