Erbol Kanatbekovich Atabayev (; ; born 15 August 2001) is a Kyrgyz

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Abdysh-Ata Kant and Kyrgyzstan national team.

Club career

Born in

Kant, Kyrgyzstan Kant () is a town in the Chüy Valley of northern Kyrgyzstan, some east of Bishkek. It is the administrative center of the Ysyk-Ata District (formerly Kant District). Its population was 22,617 in 2021. Kant was established in 1928. The Kyrgyz ...

, Atabayev started his career with Abdysh-Ata Kant at the age of five. During his time with Abdysh-Ata Kant, he was linked with Spanish side

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, but would eventually go on to sign for Russian side

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

at the age of eleven. While at Rubin, his father claimed the family were forced to obtain Russian citizenship in order for Atabayev to play. After two years in Russia, Atabayev made a stunning move to Spanish side

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, becoming the first Kyrgyz player to play for the club. Atabayev's time in Catalonia was not memorable, with then-sporting director Albert Puig saying that he had "hadn't heard anything" of Atabayev. After leaving Barcelona in 2013, he moved around a number of different Spanish clubs, eventually moving from Josep Maria Gené to

Granollers Granollers (; ) is a city in central Catalonia, about 30 kilometres north-east of Barcelona. It is the capital and most densely populated city in the comarca of Vallès Oriental. Granollers is now a bustling business centre, having grown from ...

in 2019. His first taste of senior football came for

Primera Catalana The Primera Catalana is the 7th tier of the Spanish football league system and the second highest league in the autonomous community of Catalonia. The league was formed in 1991 to replace Regional Preferent as the first level of Catalonia and was ...

side Santboià, with whom he made five appearances in the 2020–21 season, scoring once. However, in April 2021 he returned to Kyrgyzstan to re-join boyhood club Abdysh-Ata Kant. Having moved again from Kyrgyzstan to Russia, he signed with Dynamo Makhachkala in February 2022. He scored his first goal for the club against rivals

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded in 1991, the club last competed in the third-tier Russian Football National League 2. ...

in May 2022, helping his team to secure promotion.

International career

In March 2022, Atabayev regained Kyrgyz citizenship, making him eligible for the national team. In May of the same year, he was called up to the

Kyrgyzstan national football team The Kyrgyzstan national football team (; ), officially recognised by FIFA and AFC as Kyrgyz Republic, represents Kyrgyzstan in international football and is controlled by the Kyrgyz Football Union, a member of the Asian Football Confederation ...

for

2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification was the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, the 18th edition of the international men's football champions ...

matches.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atabaev, Erbol 2001 births Living people Kyrgyzstani men's footballers 21st-century Kyrgyzstani sportsmen Kyrgyzstan men's youth international footballers Kyrgyzstan men's international footballers Russian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Abdysh-Ata players FC Rubin Kazan players FC Barcelona players CE L'Hospitalet players CF Gavà players EC Granollers players FC Santboià players FC Dynamo Makhachkala players FC Volgar Astrakhan players Primera Catalana players Kyrgyz Premier League players Russian Second League players Russian First League players Kyrgyzstani expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Kyrgyzstani expatriate sportspeople in Spain 21st-century Russian sportsmen