Sergei Sergeyevich Ostapenko (russian: Серге́й Остапенко) (born 23 February 1986) is a former Kazakh

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 ...

, whose last team was

FC Astana Astana Football Club ( kk, Astana Futbol Kluby) is a professional football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 30,254-seat Astana Arena stadium. ...

Career

In 2003, Ostapenko had graduated from

FC Almaty FC Alma-Ata ( kk, Алматы футбол клубы, ''Alamty Fýtbol Klýby'') was a Kazakh association football club based in Almaty between 2000 and 2008. History In 2000 the club was formed as ''FC Tsesna'' in Almaty. Tsesna played i ...

''(FC Tsesna at that time)'' football academy and had been starting in the first team since then, before his transfer to

FC Tobol FC Tobol ( kk, Тобыл футбол клубы, Tobyl Futbol Kluby) is a Kazakh professional football club based at the Central Stadium in Kostanay. They have been members of the Kazakhstan Premier League since its foundation in 1992. The ...

in 2007. That was definitely an upward move in his career. He helped the team to win the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foo ...

that season, to finish second in the Super League and win the

Kazakhstan Cup The Kazakhstan Cup is the main knockout cup competition in Kazakhstan football, run by the Football Federation of Kazakhstan. The tournament was initially founded in 1936 as a competition for clubs in the Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Сове� ...

Royal Antwerp

On 31 January 2008, along with

Maksim Zhalmagambetov Maksim Zhalmagambetov (russian: link=no, Максим Жалмағамбетов) is a Kazakhs, Kazakh Association football, football Defender (association football), defender. He is currently in the starting XI of the Kazakhstan national footba ...

, Ostapenko signed a two-year contract with

Royal Antwerp FC Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

. The Belgian team's manager noted that the duo's youth, international experience and physical characteristics were key motivations for signing the pair. However, Ostapenko's European adventure was not particularly successful and he did not start a single game for the reds, only playing in the reserve team. Both Ostapenko and

shortly returned to Kazakhstan in the middle of the

Kazakhstan Premier League 2008 The 2008 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 17th season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan, and took place between 8 March and 5 November. Teams For the 2007 season, Megasport and Energetik we ...

. In July 2014, Ostapenko moved from

FC Kaisar FC Kaysar ( kk, Қайсар Футбол Клубы, ''Qaısar Fýtbol Klýby'') is a Kazakh professional football club based in the Gany Muratbayev Stadium in Kyzylorda. They are founding members of the Kazakhstan Premier League and have mis ...

, returning to Astana in April 2015 after his Kaisar contract had expired.

International career

At the age of 21, Sergei earned his first cap on 6 June 2007 in

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

qualifier against Azerbaijan. He scored his first goal for the national team against Armenia, which also was a lone winning goal. Since then however, he has scored 3 more goals, all in World Cup Qualifiers, including 2 at home to Andorra.

Career Stats

Club

Last update: 21 September 2014

International goals

Honours

* Kazakhstan League Runner-up: 2007 * Kazakhstan Cup Winner: 2006, 2007, 2010 * Intertoto Cup Winner: 2007

References

External links

Profile at KFF website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostapenko, Sergei Living people 1986 births Kazakhstani footballers Association football forwards Royal Antwerp F.C. players Kazakhstan international footballers Kazakhstani expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium FC Aktobe players FC Tobol players FC Astana players FC Kaisar players FC Zhetysu players Kazakhstan Premier League players Belgian First Division B players