Artem Hennadiyovych Smolyakov (; born 29 May 2003) is a Ukrainian 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 defender for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...

Club career

Early years

Smolyakov, born in

Baranivka, Zhytomyr Oblast Baranivka (, ; ; ; ) is a city in Zviahel Raion in the Zhytomyr Oblast of Ukraine. Prior to the 2020 administrative reform, it was the administrative centre of the former Baranivka Raion. Population: In 2001 the population was 12,584. The name e ...

, is a product of the

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

youth sportive school system.

Inhulets Petrove

In August 2020, he signed a contract with

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

side Inhulets Petrove. He made his league debut for Inhulets against

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

on 22 November 2021.

Polissya Zhytomyr

On 21 July 2023, Smolyakov moved to Polissya Zhytomyr for a fee of €150,000. During his time there, he made a total of 43 appearances in all competitions.

Los Angeles FC

On 14 February 2025, Smolyakov moved to

for a reported €2 million transfer fee.

International career

Smolyakov has made 10 appearances for the Ukraine U21 team, with his first international appearance taking place on 8 September 2023 against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* 2003 births Living people Footballers from Zhytomyr Oblast Ukrainian men's footballers Ukraine men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders FC Inhulets Petrove players FC Polissya Zhytomyr players Los Angeles FC players Ukrainian Premier League players Major League Soccer players Ukrainian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in the United States {{Ukraine-footy-defender-2000s-stub