Zinetula Bilyaletdinov

Zinetula Bilyaletdinov
Bilyaletdinov in 2013
Born	(1955-03-13) 13 March 1955 (age 69) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union[1]
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight	189 lb (86 kg; 13 st 7 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Left
Played for	HC Dynamo Moscow
National team	Soviet Union
Playing career	1973–1988
Medal record Olympic Games 1984 Sarajevo Team 1980 Lake Placid Team

Zinetula Khaidarovich "Bill" Bilyaletdinov (Russian: Зинэтула Хайдарович Билялетдинов, Tatar: Зиннәтулла Хәйдәр улы Билалетдинев; born 13 March 1955) is a former Russian ice hockey player of Tatar descent, who played for the USSR.

From 1973–1988 Bilyaletdinov played for HC Dynamo Moscow.^[1] As a coach, he won the Russian Championship in the 2005–2006 season and the 2007 European Champions Cup, as well as the first-ever KHL Gagarin Cup championship as coaching Ak Bars Kazan.

Bilyaletdinov served as an assistant coach for the Winnipeg Jets in the 1994 and 1995 seasons, and as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes during the 1996–1997 season.^[2]

In June 2011, Bilyaletdinov was appointed to head coach of the Russian national ice hockey team. As the head coach of the national team, Bilyaletdinov has emphasised defensive discipline.

In 2012, Russia won the 2012 IIHF World Championship in Helsinki. Russia won all its matches of the tournament in regulation time, the first time any team had done so since the Soviet Union in 1989. After the tournament, star player Alexander Semin praised Bilyaletdinov's disciplined approach and focus on retaining possession of the puck.^{[citation needed]} He was fired after Russia men's national ice hockey team was eliminated in the quarterfinals at the 2014 Winter Olympics.