First President of Kalmykia, sixth President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov told how the club wanted to hire ex-forward Diego Maradona as a playing coach. According to Ilyumzhinov, who at the end of the 90s was the president of Uralan, negotiations were held with Maradona discussing the price of the contract.
“We didn't need him so much as a coach. We agreed that he would be a playing coach: he would go out on the field a couple of times and hit the ball. He was needed for us both for young people and for the inhabitants of Kalmykia, as a football symbol. But he had a health problem, and therefore we did not sign the contract. Albeit, everything was ready, "Ilyumzhinov said in an interview with Match TV.
So one of the best players in the history of football, Diego Maradona, could become a playing coach of a Russian club in the 90s. In 1997, the Elista club entered the Premier League, and in 1998, the club took the seventh place in the top division of Russian football, which is the best result in the history of Uralan.
