Zinetula Bilyaletdinov

Zinetula Bilyaletdinov played his entire career from 1973-88 with one club – Dynamo Moskva. Although he never won a Soviet title with them, he was seven times a runner-up (1977-80, 1985-87) and won bronze six times (1974-75, 1981-83, 1988). Internationally besides his two Olympic medals, Bilyaletdinov was World champion six times (1978-79, 1981-83, 1986) and European champion seven times (1979, 1981-83, 1985-87), also winning a silver (1987) and bronze (1985) at the World Championships and a silver (1978) at the European Championships. In 1979 Bilyaletdinov played on the winning Soviet Union team in the Challenge Cup between the Soviet Union and NHL All-Stars and in 1981 he won the Canada Cup. He also won bronzes at the 1976 and 1984 Canada Cup. After his sporting career Bilyaletdinov had a successful career as a hockey coach. From 1988-92 he worked as a coach with Dynamo Moskva, before working with the NHL Winnipeg Jets (later the Phoenix Coyotes) from 1993-97. From 1997-2000 and 2002-04 Bilyaletdinov was the head coach of Dynamo Moskva. In 2001 for a short time Bilyaletdinov was a coach of the Chicago Blackhawks and in 2001-02 was the head coach at HC Lugano. In 2004 Bilyaletdinov was named the head coach of Ak Bars Kazan and won Russian Championships with them in 2006 and 2009 and European Champions Cup in 2007. From 2004-05 Bilyaletdinov was head coach of the Russian national team.