MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. Members of the Executive Board of the Russian Football Union (RFU) voted at its session on Thursday to approve Stanislav Cherchesov for the post of the Russian national football team coach, a member of the board told TASS.

"Cherchesov has been approved for the post with the contract with the contract valid until August 2018," Igor Lebedev, a member of the RFU Executive Board and a vice speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house, said on an interview with TASS.

2018 World Cup semis set as task for Russia’s new football head coach.

"The main task voiced by [RFU President Vitaly] Mutko is to reach the semifinal stage of the 2018 World Cup, but Cherchesov voiced the aim of going into the final match," Igor Lebedev, a member of the RFU Executive Board and a vice speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house, said on an interview with TASS.

"I believe that the currently set mission is incorrect," Lebedev said. "Cherchesov will now work as ‘do or die’ and perhaps he will help the national team put up a decent performance. But what is next, will there be national football afterwards? The initial goal must be to form a good, competitive team."

Besides Cherchesov, the other candidates to take the helm of the national football squad ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia were Kurban Berdyev, Alexander Borodyuk and Sergei Semak.

Before being appointed today to the post of the national team’s head coach, Cherchesov managed Poland’s Legia Warsaw FC, which he guided to the title of the country’s champions and the Cup of Poland in the 2015/2016 season.

Following its session in late July, The RFU Technical Committee issued a recommendation to appoint a national expert for the post of the Russian football team’s next head coach.