Aleksandr Sergeyevich Samedov ( rus, Александр Сергеевич Самедов, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ sɐˈmʲedəf; ; born 19 July 1984) is a Russian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

official and a former player who played as a

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He has played for 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 ...

since 2011 and was selected for the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

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 ...

Personal life

Samedov was born in Moscow,

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, his father is AzerbaijaniДомашний ребенок. Новобранец «Локомотива» Александр Самедов всегда спешит к родному очагу
/ref> and his mother is Russian. He is a ChristianАлександр Самедов принял христианство и отказался от места в сборной Азербайджана по футболу
and is married to Yuliya. He named

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

as his all-time favorite team in European football and had been a fan since mid-1990s.

Club career

He was a student of the

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * ...

academy and was considered one of their most talented youngsters. He was a regular in the first team under

Nevio Scala Nevio Scala (; born 22 November 1947) is an Italian football sporting director, coach and former player. Throughout his footballing career, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs, and won several titles during his time with AC Mila ...

but when

Aleksandrs Starkovs Aleksandrs Starkovs (born 26 July 1955) is a Latvian football coach and a former footballer who played as a forward. Most recently he coached FK Liepāja. Starkovs has managed clubs such as Spartak Moscow in Russia, FK Baku in Azerbaijan and ...

came he lost his place in the first team. Spartak Moscow then purchased

Vladimir Bystrov Vladimir Sergeyevich Bystrov (, born 31 January 1984) is a Russian former footballer who played as a right winger. Career FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Bystrov began his career in youth club Smena. In 2001, he transferred to Zenit. On 8 May 200 ...

, and in the summer of 2005 Samedov left for

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 ...

for €3.4 million. However, Samedov failed to succeed in Loko, and in 2008 joined

FC Moscow FC Moscow (Russian: Футбольный клуб Москва) was a Russian football (soccer), football club based in Moscow. History The creation of the team was first announced by the Moscow government on 1 March 2004. FC Moscow was formed on ...

. Having shown great progress under direction of

Miodrag Božović Miodrag "Grof" Božović (, ; born 22 June 1968) is a Montenegrin football manager and former player. Playing career Club A tall central defender, Božović played alongside Yugoslav and Montenegrin legends Predrag Mijatović and Dejan Saviće ...

, he chose to become part of a bigger club and went to

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

during the 2009–10 winter transfer period. On 27 June 2012, Samedov moved to Lokomotiv, where he played earlier. According to the source close to the club, Lokomotiv paid about 8.2 million € for his services. During his second spell at Lokomotiv, Samedov established himself as starting XI fixture at right wing. In May 2013, when he added some goals to his usual good amount of assistances, he managed to win monthly poll among Loko fans in the social networks for the best player of the month. He won this poll for the second time in April 2014. After the end of 2013–14 season, club organized new poll among Loko fans in the social networks to name the best player of the season. The award went to Samedov with 32.3 percent of votes. On 16 January 2017, he returned to

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet Top League, Soviet championships (second only to FC Dynamo Kyiv, Dynamo Kyiv) and 10 Russian Premier League, Russian champ ...

, winning 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 ...

title at the end of the season. He was released from his Spartak contract by mutual consent on 5 January 2019. On 13 January 2019, he signed with

Krylia Sovetov Samara PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara () is a Russian professional football club based in Samara that plays in the Russian Premier League. In 2004, they finished third in the Russian Premier League. History Krylia Sovetov was founded in Kuybyshev (now Sama ...

. On 28 August 2019, he signed with semi-professional side Znamya Noginsk. On 27 October 2019, he retired from football. He restarted his career after Znamya Noginsk was promoted to the third-tier

Russian Professional Football League The Russian Second League (), formerly the Russian Professional Football League, are both the third (Division A) and fourth level (Division B) of Russian professional football. History In 1998–2010, it was run by the Professional Football Lea ...

for the 2020–21 season. He retired again in January 2021 and was appointed scout by

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 ...

. He left Lokomotiv in 2022.

International career

2017 RUS v BEL exhibition - Aleksandr Samedov and Roman Zobnin

In 2003, Samedov first visited

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

to hold discussions on representing the

Azerbaijan national football team The Azerbaijan national football team () is the national association football, football team of Azerbaijan and is controlled by Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan. It represents Azerbaijan in international football competitions. ...

. He rejected the offer as it would have meant he had to renounce his

Russian citizenship Russian citizenship law details the conditions by which a person holds citizenship of Russia. The primary law governing citizenship requirements is the federal law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" (, ), which came into force on 1 July ...

in favor of Azerbaijan. At international level Samedov has played for the Russia U-21s. He was called up to the

in late September 2011 for the first time. On 7 October 2011, Samedov made his debut for the senior national team of Russia after coming on as a last-minute substitute for

Alan Dzagoev Alan Yelizbarovich Dzagoev (, ; ; romanized as Dzagoyev; born 17 June 1990) is a Russian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. After joining Akademiya Tolyatti in 2006, he remained there for two seasons before transferring ...

in the 1–0 away win against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

in a

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 ...

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

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 ...

squad. On 11 May 2018, he was included in Russia's extended

squad. On 3 June 2018, he was included in the finalized World Cup squad. He started Russia's every game in the World Cup, but was substituted in the second half in 3 out of 5, including both knock-out stage games. Following Russia's 2018 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal loss to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, he announced his retirement from the national team.

Career statistics

Club statistics

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 7 July 2018.''

International goals

(Russia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Samedov goal)

Honours

Clubs

;Lokomotiv Moscow * Russian Cup: 2006–07, 2014–15, 2016–17 ;Spartak Moscow *

: 2016–17 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football (soccer), football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Rambler Russian ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samedov, Aleksandr 1984 births Living people Russian men's footballers Russia men's under-21 international footballers Russia men's international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players Men's association football midfielders FC Lokomotiv Moscow players FC Spartak Moscow players FC Moscow players FC Dynamo Moscow players PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players Footballers from Moscow Russian Premier League players Russian sportspeople of Azerbaijani descent Converts to Christianity Russian Christians 2018 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century Russian sportsmen