Aleks Shliakotin, with his tall and imposing figure, has become a popular mainstay of Hong Kong football over the past few years. A well-known face for both BC Rangers and Sham Shui Po, the Ukrainian goalkeeper has spent the past few months at BC Rangers and was part of the squad that won the Sapling Cup. Winning silverware is the icing on the cake for someone who is seen as a hardworking, humble and dedicated individual.
Shliakotin is truly a renaissance man and when he is not being a top goalkeeper, he also models, coaches and has his own goalkeeper’s glove brand.
As a very disciplined individual, it is no surprise that he can manage his time so well and juggle all these different roles to the best of his ability. Shliakotin has overcome many hurdles and obstacles to become a professional player and it is these life lessons that he experienced, overcame and faced, that have made him the person he is today.
In his role as a coach, he tries to instill the same values that made him a success, into his young charges at his football school, asfootballcenter.com . His coaching journey started off at ESF Lions and as usual, his attitude and sense of responsibility, has propelled him to being one of the top youth coaches in Hong Kong.
The journey he undertook was not an easy one and it was a calculated risk to come to Hong Kong. It is a trip he does not regret as he is absolutely grateful for all the chances and opportunities that his ‘home’ has now given him.
First Steps Towards Hong Kong
Shliakotin was open and transparent on why he came to Hong Kong. He felt he needed a change in his life and career and wanted to make a transition.
“Before I came to Hong Kong, I had quite a tough time in my life and my career. My last two clubs didn’t pay salaries for half a year so this was quite unpleasant to be in this kind of situation and it was getting to the point where I was like; “Okay, I need to change my life drastically!”
When Shliakotin brought his one-way ticket, he had never been to Hong Kong before and was not even sure why he selected the destination as he knew no one at all in HK. Maybe it was all fate and destiny?
“I’m not sure why I made the decision to come to Hong Kong! I just bought a one-way ticket and just came to HK out of nowhere. I know it’s like an unconventional decision because I didn’t have any agent here. I didn’t know anyone here!”
ChungKing Mansions Is the Start
Shliakotin’s decision to journey into the unknown meant that he stayed for a little while in the infamous ChungKing Mansions to get his bearings; though he knew that he had the work ethic and attitude to make something out of himself.
“Okay, that’s how I ended up in Hong Kong. I was sure that my abilities were good enough and I wanted to move to another place, to try something completely new, in a completely new country. I was thinking about Asia. Why did I choose Hong Kong? Absolutely no idea! Just one decision!”
Shliakotin has no regrets and loves HK and considers it to be his home now.
“I’m absolutely in love with Hong Kong and I think it’s the best place in the world. I’m just amazed how I chose Hong Kong out of nowhere. That was the best decision of my life.”
Shliakotin is not some naive ‘babe in the woods’ who decided on a whim, by spinning the globe and stopping it with his finger, to move to HK; he did his research and even though there are / were limited spaces for foreigner players in HK, he still decided it was worth a shot. He also thanks and praised Rangers supremo, Philip Lee, for giving him a chance.
“First of all, I checked on Transfer Market, because I’m a goalkeeper. A goalkeeper’s chances are pretty limited. It’s pretty tough because of the limits for the position as a goalkeeper cannot play everywhere.
Even now in my situation in the HKPL, it’s really tough to be a goalkeeper as a foreigner because you don’t compete with just goalkeepers; you compete with the strikers and defenders for the foreign spots.
So therefore, in many, many countries, they don’t even consider foreign goalkeepers. I checked on the transfer market back in 2016. There were only a few foreign goalkeepers playing in Hong Kong so I thought it was possible.
Secondly, I wanted to get to a country that had high living standards. Yeah, so that’s why I think I chose Hong Kong, but obviously I haven’t been here before. It was a completely blind decision!”
In Hong Kong Football – Money Is Everything
Shliakotin has experienced and seen enough of domestic football to comment on how to improve the state of the game; a long running topic of which many people seem to have the ideas and suggestions yet everything remains the same.
Money is Everything!
“Let’s speak about the short term. If you want to have good results short-term, you need to have good players in order to attract them with the salaries. We cannot attract good players with bad salaries because they will go somewhere else. So for the short term, you need to put money into the team’s budgets to attract better players to come.
Better players will raise the level of league and it will be a better standard football so HK also can play on a decent level in international and Asian league champions league and AFC cup competitions which will make the level go up!”
No Career Path
As most are aware, some ‘professional’ players in HK do not make enough income to live off so have two or three part-time jobs to supplement their income. This is where the crux of the problem is, aside from a fortunate few, salaries are low, that unless the player moves abroad, there is no set career path for players to follow.
“If we’re talking about the long term, in my opinion, the biggest problem in Hong Kong is that kids don’t see football as a professional sport. Now, the question is, why don’t they see themselves in this career? Or another question! Why don’t parents see football as a profession for their kids!”
In a tough world, people have to be realistic.
“The question is money because we’re not talking about foreigners as foreigners are coming from outside. We are talking about local boys who were born here in HK. I’m pretty sure most of them if you would ask them ‘Hey, if you could make X amount of money that you would consider as a salary. What would you choose? To be a football player or some office worker? 85-90% would say football player, but unfortunately for local players it’s pretty impossible to make a very decent amount of money being a football player. You can only play for the national team or two clubs to be able to have a full-time job in football in HK.
Obviously that’s why parents push them to study them towards other professions. That’s why those who potentially could be good football players; in HK; there are some with great potential, who do not become players.”
Time and Dedication
To be a top athlete takes time and dedication and for some the sacrifices are not worth it. Shliakotin stressed that it takes years and years of personal sacrifice to make it to the top and if the rewards do not correlate then some will not bother sadly.
“Parents don’t want them to spend so much time on sports as in order to be a good football player or a full-time football player. You need to dedicate 10 to 15 years of your life even before you even begin as you only start at 20 or 18 years. You need to dedicate time before that to training and fighting for your spot and winning competitions. If the outcome is a salary of HKD$7,000 per month then like what’s the point right? Every parent would ask that question.
“If there were better career prospects in HK as well as a salary then people would say ok, spending these 10 to 12 years then people would say, if I am successful then I can have a good life and provide for my family and then I can have another 10 to 15 years of my career to make money.”
A Career For Many But Not In Hong Kong
Not all nations are as fortunate as HK to have jobs and careers in a whole range of industries; in Shliakotin’s native Ukraine, football is seen as a way to a better life and a door to open up many opportunities. Many hope to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Andriy Shevchenko, the legendary Ukrainian footballer who played for the likes of AC Milan, Chelsea and of course, Dynamo Kyiv.
Shevchenko inspired a whole generation of players and was the driving force behind Ukraine’s appearances in three European Championships finals (2000, 2012, and 2016) and the World Cup in 2006. Many aspired to follow a similar path but of course, the journey is paved with challenges and obstacles.
“In the Ukraine, basically football is the only chance for you legally, at a very young age, to make very very good money. You cannot get anything else or any other job that is comparable. The difference is that if you work in Bank and make X amount of money then a football player makes 20 times 30 times. It is incomparable and that’s why all the parents in the Ukraine are pushing their children to be football players. It is completely opposite!”
Shliakotin observed the global phenomenon of how there is a pay disparity between homegrown and overseas players in certain leagues.
“There is a huge disparity of pay and it is pretty normal for foreign players to get more than local players. I mean, normal and it’s not unusual and mostly everywhere in the world is like this in terms of salary.
Yeah, for whatever reason, people don’t treat their own (players), as good as outsiders. It was everywhere like that. For me as well, when I played as a Ukrainian player in Ukraine, I got one salary and then as soon as I went to Poland then my salary was tripled and I am the same player.”
The Asian Cup
Shliakotin was delighted with HK’s appearance at the Asian Cup and said it will lead to greater chances to raise the standard of the sport in HK.
“Definitely! Again, the question is what is the target? The target was to boost Hong Kong’s level, to increase the level and to attract new people and fans into football. So obviously, those kinds of things like the Asian Cup, Asian Champions League and competitions like these help with possibilities to move to another level. There should be some work done in regards to making football more popular and the Asian Cup will help.”
The Goalkeeping Fraternity
As a paid up member of the goalkeeping fraternity, Shliakotin, believes that the role of the keeper will evolve even further.
“I think goalkeeping will evolve even more. I think the future will see goalkeepers being even playing higher up the field than now. You can already see some goalkeeper scenarios that would have been impossible to imagine even 10 years ago, when goalkeepers take such a risk even inside their own box and it has already become a standard thing.”
“I pretty sure that it is very close to where the goalkeeper just becomes another outfield position. If you think about it; right now, a goalkeeper is probably the hardest position on the pitch and more complex and they should be able to do basically everything that your outfield players can do. The goalkeeping part of the job is a completely different sport from outfield players is all those things that you need to do with your hands. It is a different range of tasks.”
GoalKeepers Who Are Legends
Goalkeepers, especially in the 80s, 90s and 2000s, were sometimes seen as eccentric characters and Shliakotin was happy to share who he thought were the best ones to watch back in the day.
“I believe when you’re a kid and when you start to watch those personalities like René Higuita, Fabian Barthez and Campos of Mexico then you are drawn to these brighter personalities.”
VAR – Game Changer.
For better or worse, VAR has been implemented in HK and Shliakotin gave his view on the impact of VAR on the global game and the impact in Hong Kong.
“I think VAR obviously reduces the amount of mistakes and is there room for improvement? Definitely as there are some unexplainable mistakes and I don’t think Hong Kong is an exception because other countries like England have mistakes and are even at the highest possible level. I’m sure that the target for VAR was to reduce mistakes, I am sure we have done this.”
Persistence To Gain Success
Shliakotin is a strong believer in discipline, grit and overcoming obstacles to reach the top of any field. The groundwork for him was laid at Dynamo Kiev and he continues to believe that this mindset is key to success. Early success in life is a double-edged sword to him as it can lead to entitlement, false expectations and complacency.
“Mentoring and discipline and a combination of both. That’s something I do because I believe that you can build both if you have structure. I went through the Dynamo Kiev academy and this is one of the biggest academies in Eastern Europe and one of the best and I saw how it works and I agree with the fact that strong discipline is the key to everything and I just follow this pattern.
I don’t really believe in talent though predispositions, yes! For example, speed, you are born with though everyone has a speed limit.
It is hard work and consistency and this is what afterwards, people called talent. You were not born like this. You just spend hours and hours on the training ground.”
A Late Bloomer – No Problem!
Some people are late bloomers and Shliakotin says that it is often the unnoticed or late bloomers who are the ones to look out for. Early praise could actually be detrimental in the long-run and expectations should be balanced and managed to avoid heartbreak and disappointment.
“From my experience, those players who are hardworkers and with less predispositions; they are those who make it to the top-level. Afterwards, people call them talented and so many of those, who are so talented from a young age, don’t make it. They don’t make it because they just get it too easy.
For example, as soon as you’re 10 years old, the older coaches tell you that you are the next Messi and how great you are. This relaxes the player and when you become like 18-19 and you need to compete with adults and suddenly no one cares about you being the next Messi.”
Problems and challenges when a person is young builds character whilst smooth sailing can lead to issues down the line.
“The first obstacle is saying you don’t know how to overcome a problem because you’re never done it because everyone told you how talented you are. Those who actually used to work hard, they just have it in their blood to overcome the obstacles. So then when they encounter obstacles they don’t become soft straightaway, they just keep going because they were number 16 or number 20 in terms of ranks. They were not the number one that everyone is worshiping.”
Robert Lewandowski – The Ultimate Late Bloomer
Shliakotin cites Polish striker, Robert Lewandowski, as a prime example of a player who overcame early rejections and setbacks to become a legend.
“In football, patience, hard work and consistency will get you to the top. You can apply it to every part of your life. You want to study languages? You just need to spend your time. It’s all about how smart you work and for all the talent, you need to see how hard some people work.
Look at Robert Lewandowski who was kicked out at an age of 16 from Legia Warsaw due to no potential though now, he is one of the best strikers in the world.”
Role Models
As a youngster, Shliakotin cited Buffon, the Italian legend, as one of his key role models due to his commitment and desire to consistently be at the top of his game.
“I had three! Gianluigi Buffon Dida and Van De Sar. Buffon is my favorite as he is an example of how to be professional and play for like 20 years in a row.”
Shliakotin knows that he can play for a really long time if he keeps his fitness and intends to maximize all the chances that HK has afforded him,
“I will play as long as my body allows me. I’m pretty sure that I have more years to come as I feel good, I treat my body well and I am professional in how I train. I see myself playing many more years!”
Thank You!
Football school – A&S Football Center
Instagram: instagram.com/asfootballcenter
Website: asfootballcenter.com
Goalkeeper gloves brand – TOR
Instagram: instagram.com/tor.apparel
Website: torapparel.com
