Эмиль Сайфутдинов

Ipswich’s swoop for Emil Sayfutdinov has rocked British speedway - and he admits it was race or quit in 2023. Exclusive by PHIL LANNING.

EMIL Sayfutdinov’s move to Ipswich could well be the most controversial signing in British speedway history.
The Salavat-born three-time Speedway of Nations champion was announced as the Witches’ latest capture on social media on Friday morning.
An incredible reaction erupted on Twitter and Facebook as fans digested this sensational news.
However, in the main, it was a positive response to his return to British speedway for the first time since 2011.
Sayfutdinov was, of course, banned along with other Russian riders - including reigning World Champion Artem Laguta - from competing in world speedway following the invasion and war on Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
This block on Russian competitors was in line with some other sports across the world.
But this has been tentatively lifted for league racing in 2023 because Sayfutdinov has been a Polish citizen since 2009 and lives with his wife and young son in Poland.
It is quite obvious his return to Britain will polarise opinion.
Sayfutdinov made it clear on his social media in February, 2022 that he had sympathy for his friends in Ukraine. He is naturally eager to be judged as a human being rather than by a birth certificate.
He jetted out to a pre-season training camp in Spain with Polish club Torun at the weekend but I spoke exclusively to him regarding this difficult period of time - and how his life changed overnight on February 24, 2022.
Sayfutdinov, 33, openly admits he received a series of bad messages which forced him to shut down his social media platforms and that his World Championship career is - at this moment - finished.
He also revealed that without getting the chance to race for Torun and Ipswich this season, he would have quit altogether.
He admitted: “The first thing was that I was in shock after February 24.
“Our entire team knew that was not going to be good for anyone.
“There were rumours I would be stopped from racing. We knew the decision that I’d be banned before it was made public.
“Obviously that was a really sad situation. But I understood the decision made by the FIM.
“But I immediately started thinking about and doing whatever I could do to have a chance to come back to racing at any stage.
“It was a hard time for me and my family. But it was a more devastating time for other people.
“After just one or two days I had a lot of messages on social media, really bad ones. This is why I closed all my social media immediately. The amount of messages were unbelievable.
“But I wish people can understand that I didn’t change my personality on February 24, 2022. I am still the same person I was on February 23. I didn’t do anything wrong. I am just a sportsman. The world changed, I didn’t.
“When the world changed on February 24, it was a hard moment and situation.
“I really didn’t know what to do and the entire team was in shock.
“We had to try and plan to come back to racing but we didn’t know when. There is no time when we know things are going to change.
“That was something we tried to figure out but no one could tell us.
“I can tell you that every morning we wait for some news that the people in power would suddenly sit round a table to make peace and stop this. That’s the main thing for us.”
Sayfutdinov has always been one of the nicest guys in the sport. He’s the ultimate fair sportsman - apart from one uncharacteristic but amusing fisticuffs with Scott Nicholls in Cardiff in 2009.
His main aim has been to stay positive but he also admits that his World Championship career is probably over.
However, he’s not bitter and shows compassion towards the situation.
He added: “I tried to stay positive. I trained twice every day, morning and afternoon.
“We talk with the friends around us. We had lots of backing and support which was nice.
“I focused on returning to racing and to speak to the right people. I can’t reveal everything about this but lots of people were helpful. I’d like to thank them a lot.
“At this moment, the World Championship in my career is probably finished. That is also the same for the European Championship. There is no possibility at this moment to be back.
“It is heartbreaking. But there are people in the world who have bigger problems than me staying in the World Championship. We look at it that way, it is important to understand perspective.
“It is also true that if I wasn’t able to race at all this year, my career was also finished.
“I could not wait another year and see if I could race again. I had to do something in my life.
“The same was with my team of manager and mechanics. They all had to work less in 2022 but they couldn’t do that for the rest of their lives and just wait for a decision on whether I could race again.”
But Sayfutdinov’s ban was lifted in the PGE Ekstraliga to ride for Torun. Then came the call from Ipswich to his highly-respected manager Tomas Suskiewicz (Susi) for a shock return to British speedway.
He continued: “Chris Louis called us to ask what was the possibility of me racing in the UK.
“I thought at that point I’d only be racing in Poland. Chris rang my manager Susi and wanted me in the team. I was like, ‘why not, England is a great option?’.
“Susi spoke to Chris again and said I can race but he had to fix this, this, this and this!
“It seemed like there would be a lot of stuff to try and solve to make it possible. But Chris says, ‘okay, I fix this’.
“The first point was that he had to get permission for me to race in England.
“I think I was very happy to come to the UK because I’ve always had a good relationship with the people over there.
“When I had my official Facebook page there were a lot of people from England who gave me amazing support over the years. I knew I had so many fans over there. This was also the same because I had been given such great support by UK fans in Cardiff and Manchester.
“Obviously the world has changed now and maybe the opinion and perspective of some is different now. But as a sportsman, I hope I still have fans.
“I have won team championships in most of the leagues, in Poland, Sweden and other countries a few times but never one in England, so maybe this will be the season I have a chance.”

 IPSWICH promoter Chris Louis admitted there had been "complications" with the signing of Emil Sayfutdinov.
It is an incredible coup for the Witches to bring back the former World No. 3 to British speedway.
Sayfutdinov, 33, will join former Leszno team-mate Jason Doyle as a potent top two at Foxhall.
Although the social media reaction to his signing was met with excitement from Witches fans, there was some criticism of the timing of the announcement, on the first anniversary of Russia's attack on Ukraine.
But Louis told BBC Radio Suffolk: "There have been complications, we can't shy away from it, because he was born in Russia and has represented Russia.
"But I am thankful that all the authorities have seen that Emil has lived in Poland for 13 years, he's had a Polish passport for 13 years, he's been a Polish citizen for 13 years.
"This is not a new thing for him, he's a relatively young man who wants to go about his career, which in sport is very short and it's wonderful we've got him.
"I'm a promoter that likes to get the team built at the tail-end of one season, ready for the next. It's taken us longer this year but I think it's been worth the wait.
Emil was the man that we were after right from November."
At this point in time, Sayfutdinov's signing is apparently still subject to approval by the BSPL.