Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kokorin (''

né The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Kartashov; , ; born 19 March 1991) is a Russian professional

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 forward for Cypriot First Division club

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a professional Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the A ...

. Kokorin had his breakthrough season in 2012–13, which led to Dynamo Moscow inserting a €19 million

release clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in an employment contract. It allows the employee to terminate the contract unilaterally upon payment of a specified (usually substantial) fee to the employer. The fee may be paid by the employ ...

into his contract. A full international since 2011, Kokorin has gained over 45 caps and was named in the Russian squads for

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

and Euro 2016. In October 2018, he was arrested on an assault-related charge. He was later found guilty and spent approximately one year in prison.

Club career

Kokorin made his debut for the senior

FC Dynamo Moscow FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', , ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Footba ...

team on 4 October 2008 – Dynamo was decimated by injuries and was losing to FC Saturn Moscow Oblast 0–1 at the halftime when Kokorin came on as a substitute. With 18 minutes to go Kokorin scored an equalizer (Dynamo went on to win 2–1). He became the youngest player to score a goal for Dynamo in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

(17 years 199 days). He scored a winning goal in a 1–0 victory over

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

in his second game as a starter on 3 November 2008. On 29 July 2009, he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 win against

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in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

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. At the end of the 2012–13 season he entered the Top 33 players list as the No. 1 Left Striker. On 4 July 2013, Kokorin agreed personal terms with Anzhi Makhachkala after the club had triggered his €19 million release clause. He was officially signed by Anzhi and registered with the league as an Anzhi player. However, before he could play a single official game for Anzhi (he was out of commission due to injury at the time of his signing), on 6 August, following restructuring of Anzhi at business level, the whole squad was put up for sale, including new signing Kokorin. The next day, Yuri Zhirkov, Igor Denisov and Kokorin were all transferred to Dynamo for an undisclosed fee.

Zenit Saint Petersburg

On 30 January 2016, he moved from Dynamo to

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club p ...

. On 9 April 2016, Kokorin scored his first goal for Zenit in a game against

FC Amkar Perm FC Amkar Perm ( ) is a professional association football, football club. Originally founded in 1994, it is based in the city of Perm, Russia, Perm. It was a participant in second-tier football from 1995 and in the Russian Premier League from 2004 ...

. According to his lawyer Yuri Padalko, following his release from penal colony on 17 September 2019, he signed a new contract with Zenit until the end of the 2019–20 season.

Sochi

On 21 January 2020,

club

PFC Sochi Football Club Sochi (), is a Russian professional football club based in Sochi. The club is playing its home matches at the 47,000-capacity Fisht Stadium. History FC Sochi was founded on 4 July 2018 after the relocation of FC Dynamo Saint Pete ...

announced that Kokorin will join them on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season. He initially refused to report and was moved to

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. He eventually agreed to the loan and it was confirmed by Zenit on 17 February 2020. On 19 June 2020, Kokorin scored a hat-trick in the first match back following the suspension of the Premier League due to

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. The match was a notable 10–1 victory over

FC Rostov FC Rostov () is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don. The club competes in the Russian Premier League, playing their home matches at the Rostov Arena. History Soviet era (1930-199 ...

. Rostov were forced to play their youth side though after their senior and reserve sides, 43 players in total, were forced to quarantine.

Spartak Moscow

On 2 August 2020, Spartak Moscow announced the signing of Kokorin to a three-year contract, with the option of an additional year, after his Zenit St.Petersburg contract had expired.

Fiorentina

On 21 January 2021, Spartak announced that they had reached an agreement with

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

on Kokorin's transfer. On 27 January 2021, Fiorentina confirmed that the club signed a contract with Kokorin. He became the second Russian to sign for the club, the first being

Andrei Kanchelskis Andrei Antanasovich Kanchelskis (; ; born 23 January 1969) is a Russian professional Association football, football coach and former player who currently manages Russian Second League side FC Dynamo Bryansk, Dynamo Bryansk. During his playing c ...

in 1997. In August 2022, he was loaned to

. He helped the club win their first ever

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

championship, and was voted as the most valuable player of the Cypriot season. In September 2023, he returned to Aris on loan for another year.

International career

Kokorin was a part of the Russia U-21 side that was competing in the 2011 European Under-21 Championship qualification. Kokorin was called up to the

Russia national football team The Russia national football team () represents Russia in men's international football. It is controlled by the Russian Football Union (, ), the governing body for football in Russia. Russia's home ground is the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and ...

for a friendly against Greece in November 2011 and made his national team debut in that game on the 11th, a 1–1 draw in

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. He played two games at

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

as Russia failed to pass the group stages. He scored his first national team goal on 11 September 2012 in a

qualifier against

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, which finished as a 4–0 victory at the

Ramat Gan Stadium Ramat Gan Stadium (, ''Itztadion Ramat Gan'') is a football stadium in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. It served as the national stadium of Israel until 2014. Overview Completed in 1951 and serving as Israel's largest stadium e ...

. On 2 June 2014, he was included in Russia's

squad. He scored Russia's goal in their 1–1 final group match draw with

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, as the team was knocked out by the

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

n side. Kokorin scored three times in Russia's successful

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

, concluding on 12 October 2015 with a penalty in their last game, a 2–0 win over

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at the Otkrytie Arena which sealed Russia's place at the expense of

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. He was selected in Russia's squad for Euro 2016, playing in all three matches as Russia finished bottom of the group. On 15 March 2018, he suffered an

ACL tear ACL may refer to: Aviation * IATA airport code for Aguaclara Airport in Casanare Department, Colombia Companies and organizations * ACL Cables, a cable manufacturing company in Sri Lanka * Administration for Community Living, United States, f ...

in a

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

game against

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and missed the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

as a result.

Personal life

He was born as Aleksandr Kartashov and changed his surname later, in honour of his mother Maria Kokorina following her divorce from his biological father. On 7 October 2018, Kokorin and Krasnodar midfielder Pavel Mamayev assaulted a Russian government official in a restaurant. The football players struck the official with a chair and used racial slurs. Kokorin and Mamayev were caught on camera hitting the official in a cafe in Moscow, according to Gazeta. It quotes a Russian lawyer saying that a conviction such as this would carry a maximum sentence of five years. Hours before that incident, Mamayev, Kokorin and other young people were involved in an altercation with the driver of a Channel One show presenter; he received brain damage, nose fracture and face contusions after numerous punches. Kokorin was apprehended for two months. Kokorin remained in prison until his trial which began on 9 April 2019. On 8 May 2019, he was sentenced to one year and six months in penal colony. Considering the time he spent in pre-trial detention, the latest possible date for his release from custody was considered to be 14 December 2019. He was paroled on 17 September 2019.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Russia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kokorin goal.''

Honours

Zenit Saint Petersburg *

: 2018–19 * Russian Cup: 2015–16 * Russian Super Cup:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Aris Limassol *

: 2022–23

References

External links

*
Player page on the official Dynamo Moscow site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kokorin, Aleksandr 1991 births People from Valuyki, Belgorod Oblast Living people Russian men's footballers Russian Premier League players Serie A players Cypriot First Division players Men's association football forwards Russia men's youth international footballers Russia men's under-21 international footballers Russia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2012 players 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players FC Dynamo Moscow players FC Anzhi Makhachkala players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players PFC Sochi players FC Spartak Moscow players ACF Fiorentina players Aris Limassol FC players Russian expatriate men's footballers Russian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Russian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Russian sportspeople convicted of crimes Footballers from Belgorod Oblast Russian prisoners and detainees Inmates of Butyrka prison 21st-century Russian sportsmen